Surname Distribution Maps
In trying to track down the original 'home(s)' of a surname, it is essential
to plot the distribution in various types of records such as the IGI and census
returns. For England, Wales and Scotland, the earliest census for which there is
a complete index is the 1881 census, first published by the LDS on CD and now
also available on their website www.familysearch.org
Plotting distributions in the 1881 census has recently been made easy by the
issue of Steve Archer's Surname Atlas CD. The maps below have been
produced from that CD and show (apart from the first) the frequency per 100 thousand population in each
County or Poor Law Union (equivalent to Civil Registration District).
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Comparative distribution of
Trott (1,965), Tratt (169), Trett (189) and Trout (579) in 1881 Census. (NB. Actual numbers in brackets) |
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Frequency
of occurrence of TROTT by county. The highest density was in Somerset, followed by Devon and Dorset. Other clusters were in London, Kent, Essex, South Wales and Yorkshire. The total number of Trotts on the census was 1,965 of which 503 were in Somerset, 204 in Devon and 273 in Middlesex. |
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Frequency of TROTT by Registration District. The highest was in Chard (627 per 100k) followed by Langport 340 and Axminster 330. If anywhere can be called the Home of the Trotts, it is probably the Chard area of Somerset. |
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Frequency of TRAT(T) per 100k by County. The distribution is very similar to TROTT, but far less common, showing that the names probably have a common origin. |
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Total numbers for TRET(T) by County. The name is clustered in Norfolk, and may have a different origin to TROTT and TRATT. The surname TROUT is clustered in the West Country, mainly in South Devon. |
Our member, John Matrow in the USA kindly extracted the following numbers from the index to the 1880 census for the US:
| TROTT North Carolina 15 Missouri 6 California 1 New York 12 Mississippi 6 Illinois 14 Minnesota 2 Virginia 4 Dakota Territory 2 Ohio 46 Iowa 1 Pennsylvania 3 Texas 22 Kansas 5 Massachusetts 5 Wisconsin 28 Arkansas 3 Maine 9 Tennessee 13 Maryland 30 Alabama 1 |
TRATT (46) Missouri 2 New York 9 Illinois 8 Ohio 12 Pennsylvania 3 Massachusetts 1 Arkansas 1 Maryland 5 Nebraska 1 Alabama 4 |
TRETT Missouri 3 New York 5 Illinois 1 Colorado 1 Minnesota 3 Kentucky 7 Virginia 47 Georgia 4 Texas 1 Arkansas 15 Indiana 5 Nebraska 1 |
If anyone has maps or data for the distribution of Trott and variants in the
IGI for England, France, Germany or other countries, we shall be pleased to
publish them on this page. Take a look at http://www.verwandt.de/karten/absolut/trott.html
for a map
showing distribution of 542 Trotts in telephone books of present-day Germany.