Is your surname common or rare

Not many of us about these parts.

Mine in rare enough. Anyone in Ireland with my surname would be all direct descendants of a couple who moved here from UK in 1850s and there aren't that many of us.

My surname is of Norman origin but was anglicised at some point.

Rare surname here with pretty much anybody I meet in Ireland with the surname turns out to be a relative. It is also like another unusual name but people are used to that name as it is spelt and pronounced like a familiar word. Always have to spell my name and correct people on how to pronounce it.

It gives one a different prospective on people about how people aren't paying attention. You tell somebody your name, spell it out and they then proceed to write something else down. You correct them and they start getting confused as if you told them 2 different names.

My first name is Irish and known here yet people also get that wrong and replace it with a female name with the same letters. Used to be able to cash cheques made out to another name because so many companies misspell it and the bank got used to it.

Pretty annoying to have to correct anybody several times on your name and also your gender. Once a company in the USA that I was ordering something off didn't show shipping costs to Ireland so I sent an email. About 5 emails from them with them confusing my name, gender and country by them being confused that Ireland was not in the UK. I very gently corrected them on the first response but by the 5th I was really annoyed that they didn't read the emails. The boss came on and was very apologetic and proceeded to get my name wrong again but sent me the item for free. Arrived with the wrong name but different from all others 😪

Surname is rare enough. In big multinational at work there are a couple of us with same surname. This multinational is based in same county as where surname originated. When I was in Dublin there was never anyone with same surname as me no matter how big company I worked for was.

My maiden name is one of the most popular in Ireland. My married name is very unusual in Ireland. Slightly more common in UK and Australia.

The only people in Ireland that have my name are related to me. And even worldwide, it's not that common. I do a search for my first name / last name combo on google and there's two of us.

Someday soon there will be one. 😡

My surname is common enough in my area. There is also a rugby player with it. However people I met else where tell me it's uncommon.

Relatively rare

My surname is the most common in my area over several counties

Mine is relatively uncommon. There was never anyone else in my school (apart from my siblings) with it and I never worked anywhere where there was another of us either, until last year when I was seconded to a client where someone literally had the exact same first and last name as me, which was a bit bizarre.

I also have an Irish first name that isn't super common, without being one of those unpronounceable, archaic ones. For Irish people, anyway. I work in an industry where I deal with a lot of international clients and they really struggle with it. I have to do a bit of a Saoirse-rhymes-with-inertia on it. Not saying what it rhymes with though or everyone will know what it is straightaway!

My maiden name is not particularly common but my married name is very uncommon here. It's common enough in England. Have never met anyone with the same surname here. When my children started in a Gaelscoil the principal made up an Irish version of the name,which meant they were alphabetically at the start of name lists, whereas in English they would be down at the bottom.

As with many rural areas though, since I live in the same place I was born my neighbours still refer to me by my maiden name. I still get some letters in my maiden name thirty years after marrying.

Ye all must have very unusual surnames, no Burkes, Murphys or O Connors on this thread it seems.

Mine is common over this side of the country anyway.

My surname is pretty uncommon, anyone around this part of the county would probably be a relative.

We haven't really moved beyond Munster.

Once I was in a bar near London and got chatting to a guy who told me his dad was Irish.

I asked him what their surname was, it was same as mine! He wouldn't believe me until I showed him my passport.

He got emotional because the dad was dead and was actually originally from a town in my county. He had never met anyone in England with his surname before.

We exchanged emails and chatted for a while after.

Nothing exotic about either my first or second name, I feel very mundane now seeing some of you with your fancy names.

W that became a Bh?

very similar to my story, minus the Gaeltacht and the American cousins...

Rare.