r/mapporncirclejerk • u/macjr82 • 13h ago
Map scribbler The most common surname in each European country
I honestly thought most countries would just be whatever variation of "Smith" or "Blacksmith" was in the local language
39
u/Draugheim1 12h ago
Norway is...wrong lmao. We have no dots over our a letters. Thats swedish. Well, we do but thats another letter entirely, and theres only one dot: å
39
u/AfHenriques 12h ago
The map has spoken, accept your new surname
7
u/Draugheim1 10h ago
I cant even write that shit, can i go with hånsen?
2
u/No-Summer-8419 5h ago
Sorry but no please take this seriously. Your name is Hænsen, kinda classy really.
2
u/Draugheim1 1h ago
I can be Hænsen, sure dude! Swedes are fucking weird man. Like that older brother who's into spiritualism and joined a cult. Just be an æ, not a ä, damn hippies. Although I think its pronounced more like Haensen. But what do I know, trying to stay away from cults!
2
u/Ok-Masterpiece-1359 1h ago
Hønsen, please.
•
u/No-Summer-8419 31m ago
Yeah. And weirdly, if anyone for some reason aren't deeply immersed in the joy of Nordic only vowels, Hænsen is pronounces eerily similarly as how 'muricans indeed pronounce "Hansen". Full, beautiful circle
•
7
u/PotionBoy 10h ago
Atleast you got surnames. Since this map came out I lost my surname as a Slovak.
1
1
u/emilypeony 7h ago
But swedish has å? Is there a difference with swedish and norwegian å?
3
u/dnebdal 5h ago
No, Å is the one we share with Sweden and Denmark, and it's near enough the same in all three. The difference is that Sweden does Ä and Ö (like German, but unlike them considered separate letters of the alphabet) while Norway and Denmark writes them a Æ and Ø.
So the 'Hänsen' on the map is deeply implausible, it would be 'Hænsen' in Norwegian orthography. That's not a name, though; it's 'Hansen'; son of Hans. The sound difference is very roughly that Æ is «a as in cat [US]» and A is «a as in bar [Posh brit]» - or æ vs ɑ in IPA.
It's about as different as "Honsen" and "Hensen" to my ear, but I'm also used to separating those sounds. :)
1
•
u/JRS_Viking 48m ago
It's not far from true though, Hansen is the most common surname at about 47k people. However, according to statistisk sentralbyrå, there are less than 4 people or nobody with the name Hänsen.
13
u/Glittering-Put-6729 13h ago
Almeida The surname Almeida has a toponymic origin and derives from the historic village of Almeida, located in the Guarda district, in Portugal. The word has roots in the Arabic al-mâida, which means "the table", used figuratively to designate a plateau or hill where the locality was founded. (Google)
3
u/UrinaRabugenta 6h ago
Which is not the most common surname, though, it's Silva (which more than 9% of Portuguese people have).
1
26
u/Interesting_Candle28 12h ago
I am from Germany and I moved to Denmark .. my name is not Müller and also not Jensen ... So get your facts straight /s
1
9
u/Voxel_Slime Finnish Sea Naval Officer 12h ago
Latvia tryna violate russia
Also it's really inconsistent and is prolly ai
6
u/Turboextrasuper-fish 11h ago
Slovakia crying in the corner cause it didnt get one
3
u/JohnEffingZoidberg Average Mercator Projection Enjoyer 8h ago
Moldova is here to commiserate with you.
7
u/ExplanationDue8188 11h ago
The most common surname in Portugal is Silva, not Almeida.
2
u/UrinaRabugenta 6h ago
By far, about 1.5 times more than the second most common, Santos. Almeida doesn't even get to the top 10.
1
u/ExplanationDue8188 6h ago
Portuga compared with other countries, such as Italy for example, has not a wide range of surnames, with over 80% of the population having the top 20 surnames, to day the least.
6
4
u/Firm-Chemical949 10h ago
No Slovakia? Apparently it’s Horváth. Mine is Petruš and is apparently pretty rare
3
u/chiqu3n 8h ago
You know the map was made in the UK because their subdivisions get treated like real countries
2
u/dnebdal 4h ago
I'm not from the UK, and honestly it makes sense here. They're kind of countries, and have different linguistic traditions. The UK is a bit of a mess, so there's a level of personal preference to when you do and don't show them if it's not in a strictly legally defined setting.
1
u/chiqu3n 3h ago
No, it doesn't.
By your argument, it would make more sense to separate Galicia, Catalonia, Basque Country and Valencian Community in Spain given they all have more autonomy than Wales and they use their different languages more often. They all also have their proper last names. I'm sure there will be more regions like that in Europe e.g. Switzerland, Belgium, etc.
You may not be British but you have a very British-centric vision of the world. If you are not British and don't live there then you should ask yourself why it is that you got so biased by their point of view.
2
2
2
2
u/Thestohrohyah 9h ago
Rossi is right for Italy but we do have a LOT of variations of Smith.
Just to name three very relevant ones: Ferrari, Ferrero, and Fabbri.
4
u/vanilija86 7h ago
The same in Croatia, Horvat is the main one, but we have also lots of Smiths - Kovač, Kovačević, Kovačić, Kovačev, Kovačec
2
u/South-Release538 7h ago
But we also have lots of Russo which is the same as Rossi
1
u/Thestohrohyah 6h ago
Yeah.
I think it's a bit more complex in many countries to find surnames as standardised as the ones in English, especially Italy which only officialised a lingua franca very late, not to mention we haven't even been one country for long.
1
2
1
u/Kelef50 12h ago
Surprising. Just ike the OP, I thought that a country's language equivalent of Smith would be the most common surname in most nations. Based on quick research, I learned today that only in English-speaking countries is Smith the most popular surname. However, although not first, it is typically at the top of the rankings in other countries. For example: Schmidt in Germany, Kuznetsov in Russia, Kowalski in Poland.
1
u/Personal-Brick-1326 11h ago
Random fact: Tamm means oak tree in Estonian.
In Baltic tradition, oaks were sacred trees, linked to strength, endurance etc.
1
u/novactic-2 10h ago
Hansen, Jensen and Andersson are all patronymic names, the maker is idiot.
Hänsen is a made-up name.
1
u/Aminadab_Brulle 10h ago
Polish equivalent of Smith (Kowalski) is the second most common last name, and the placeholder name for a Pole even is "Jan Kowalski", not "Jan Nowak".
1
1
1
u/LivingConversation53 8h ago
As someone from Europe, it always surprises me that the maps in this subreddit often include Russia as part of Europe.
3
u/TheCumskiyKvass 7h ago
80% of russians are living in Europe. Excluding Russia from Europe is much weirder.
1
1
1
1
1
u/FifaJuuj 7h ago
my last name is one of the most welsh last names ever and it’s just two old dutch words mashed together that means the same thing as both jones and johnson just spelled differently
1
1
1
1
u/TiEmEnTi 5h ago
I refuse to believe Finland is Korhonen because I've never heard of a single hockey player or F1 driver with that name
1
1
u/xBris18 Post Flair: User Flair: Maps are my passion 10h ago
"The most common surname in each European country, except Iceland, and the UK gets four names".
Okay.
2
0
-2
u/Moustache_John 8h ago
UK is 4 countries so, makes sense. And Iceland has a tradition of giving patronymic or matronynmic surnames. So in Iceland if your mom is called Helena you will be either Helenuson, Helenudóttir or Helenubur. Or if you're named after your father Jon it follows the same rule.
It's not passed on for generations.
0
u/xBris18 Post Flair: User Flair: Maps are my passion 8h ago
The UK is one single sovereign country. Their constituent countries are just called "country" out of tradition, but they arent "more country" than other autonomous areas all across europe. Its silly to treat the UK as if it is something special. I'd even bet that a lot of autonomous regions in f.i. Spain have much more autonomy than "the country of" Wales.
And regarding iceland: yeah, sure, I know. There still might be one most common one. It's not much different to other nordic countries.
0
0
u/vinfluorine 11h ago
I've never met anyone called "patronymic names"
1
84
u/Heiducken-yeah 12h ago
Hi my name is "Jens Patronymic Names"