Comments on: What’s the Mormon-est Surname?

By: Heidi Ann M

Heidi Ann M — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 02:14:15 +0000

I had a friend in high school whose last name was actually “Mormon,” not “Morman”, but it had the ‘O’ on the end- beat that! Incidentally, she was a Baptist, and not related to any members of the Church.

By: Pam W.

Pam W. — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 02:35:57 +0000

Greenfrog: My maternal grandmother was a Humpherys. Moved from Star Valley to southern California as soon as she hit adulthood and stayed. Not a fan of snow!

I didn’t know there was a polygamist connection — and here I thought my background was polyg-free!

By: EmilyS

EmilyS — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:48:58 +0000

Summerhays! I win!

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 01:17:28 +0000

Of the ones I looked at Zollinger, Humpherys, Romney, and Udall all stood out in 1990. I add one more unusual Utah-centric name for 1990: Alldredge.

That was fun, thanks!

By: JKS

JKS — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 00:13:24 +0000

I don’t understand why we are going back years and years to find the Mormonist surname. If a name is really Mormon, then the name should grow fast because of early marriage and lots of kids. Why not use today’s years even though the % of Mormons is down?

By: Capt. Obsidian

Capt. Obsidian — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 22:17:07 +0000

Did anybody else check Taylor? Also a pretty common name, but the map for 1850 is striking. See also Lund, 1880; Cowley, 1880; Morris, 1880; and Adams (all years).

By: Jed's brother

Jed's brother — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 21:13:09 +0000

Most Mormon surname ever: Kartchner, held by Jed’s sister-in-law.

By: Capt. Obsidian

Capt. Obsidian — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 20:53:08 +0000

I’ll have to nominate Thomas. In 1880, a great concentration in ID. My ancestors migrated from Wales to Malad in the 1860′s to join a large Welsh Mormon community in the area. Unfortunately, the name is extremely common and shows up in large concentrations on the east coast and the south. The concentration in ID is definitely related to a large Mormon community.

By: Hans Hansen

Hans Hansen — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 19:06:39 +0000

Just for the record a lot of Norwegian names end in “-sen”. My family came from Vestfold county in Norway and all of their names end in “-sen”.

Also, a couple years before I met my wife, she was dating a guy named Lars Larsen.

One of my friends is named Chris Christensen.

During my mission in Norway there was another elder named Knute Knutesen. We worked together sometimes and got into nearly every house that we tracted by saying, “I’m Hans Hansen and he’s Knute Knutesen. We’re from America!”

I’m an organist and often thought of getting these guys together to hear me play “Berceuse” by Ole Olsen. Can’t you just imagine Lars Larsen, Chris Christensen, and Knute Knutesen listening to Hans Hansen play a piece by Ole Olsen?

By: a random John

a random John — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 15:44:36 +0000

Here is a series of maps showing the distributions of religious groups in the USA. And Here is a similar map relevant to the intelligent design debate.