Hi Mary Jane The one mentioned by Roy is a commercial product There is one which can use for free, although not as comprehensive its quite interesting to use http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/ You will see there is also a Worldwide version Point to note :- it does not include every single surname, it is only triggered by occasions of 100 or more as follows To qualify for inclusion in this list there must have been at least one hundred entries under that family name in the Great Britain electoral register for 1996. To find the commercial one, based on the 1881 census, just google Surname Atlas, first hit is it Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > Could someone please tell me how to find the Surname Atlas on the Web? > Many thanks, Mary Jane Phillips

On 13 Sep 2009 at 7:15, Nivard Ovington wrote: > Hi Mary Jane > > The one mentioned by Roy is a commercial product > > There is one which can use for free, although not as comprehensive its > quite interesting to use > > http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/ > > You will see there is also a Worldwide version > > Point to note :- it does not include every single surname, it is only > triggered by occasions of 100 or more as follows > > To qualify for inclusion in this list there must have been at least > one hundred entries under that family name in the Great Britain > electoral register for 1996. > > To find the commercial one, based on the 1881 census, just google > Surname Atlas, first hit is it > Any program that finds only surnames with more than 100 occurrences is not a lot of use, in my opinion. For instance, it won't find my name since there are only about 40 STOCKDILLs in the UK, though there are many STOCKDALEs. A large number of surnames that are registered with the Guild of One-Name Studies would not show, as many Guild names have fewer than 100 occurrences today. Surname Atlas - in response to those who asked - is not available on the internet but is a wonderful piece of software on CD-ROM. At £12 it's one of the best bargains in genealogy. It takes all the 1881 census data and produces instant surname distribution maps, allowing users to see where their own name was particularly dominant. You can show data by counties or by Poor Law Unions, which equate to registration and electoral districts, also in terms of the number of entries per 100,000 people. Surname Atlas also works with forenames as well and you can have hours of endless amusement playing with it! I've found that friends who profess no interest in genealogy were fascinated by it. It is available to order online at: http://www.archersoftware.co.uk/ -- Roy Stockdill Professional genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History: www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." OSCAR WILDE

Dear Nivard, Many thanks for the help. I'll also look up the National Trust, particularly because the names I am researching are so common: Phillips (my maiden name) and Spencer (my mother's maiden name) and Smith (my gr-gr-gr-grandmother's maiden name). By sheer luck, I have fully documented my gr-gr-gr grandmother, Mary Smith [Spencer], because she was involved in the Anti-Slavery Movement. I even have a completely documented engraving of her. All good wishes, Mary Jane ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nivard Ovington" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 2:15 AM Subject: Re: [YORKSHIRE] Surname Atlas > Hi Mary Jane > > The one mentioned by Roy is a commercial product > > There is one which can use for free, although not as comprehensive its > quite > interesting to use > > http://www.nationaltrustnames.org.uk/ > > You will see there is also a Worldwide version > > Point to note :- it does not include every single surname, it is only > triggered by occasions of 100 or more as follows > > To qualify for inclusion in this list there must have been at least one > hundred entries under that family name in the Great Britain electoral > register for 1996. > > To find the commercial one, based on the 1881 census, just google Surname > Atlas, first hit is it > > > Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > > > >> Could someone please tell me how to find the Surname Atlas on the Web? >> Many thanks, Mary Jane Phillips > > > > > Some useful websites - > FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ > FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ > Want to know where a place in Yorkshire is - Try Genuki > http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >