Spearin Surname Project |
Where & When ... Temporal & Geographic Distribution Where and When - Temporal & Geographic Distribution Armed
with our list of variants, we can now explore how frequently these names occur
in present day and historical records and by so doing obtain an idea of the
distribution of the name and its variants in time and place. Analysing the
distribution of surnames over time can give us an idea of possible migration
patterns that may tie up with known events from our own family histories. In
some instances it may be possible to deduce that current populations may all
arise from a single individual or group of related families. For examples, all
Spierins in Dublin today are likely to be descended from my ggg grandfather,
Patrick Spierin (1802-1872). IRELAND Temporal Distribution
in Ireland - 1850 to present day Which Spearin variants became the dominant name over
time? And where were they most concentrated? The table below gives a crude idea
of the frequency of selected variants in Ireland from the time of Griffith's
Primary Valuation to the present day. There is some double counting of heads of
household in Griffith's and the census values represent all family members
rather than heads of households, so we are comparing apples with pears.
Nevertheless, certain broad conclusions can be drawn from this comparison. Name \ Source Griffith's Primary Valuation (1848-1864) [1] 1901 census [2] 1911 census [3] Eircom online telephone book 2011 [4] Spierin 0 20 27 7 Speiran 0 8 12 3 Sperin 0 5 6 5 Spearing 34 13 26 0 Spearin 1 9 12 1 Speirin 0 0 0 0 Sperrin 0 4 1 2 Spearan 1 0 0 0 Spearman 17 64 45 11 But where are all the other Spearin variants that we
identified from our trees? Is it the case that they had left the country by the
time of Griffiths Valuation? Or did they die out over time? Or did other
variants only arise after emigration? Or were these deviants rather than
variants? Geographical Distribution in Ireland - present day Half of the modern day variants are located in Dublin and
surprisingly few remain in Limerick, the putative county of origin of all Irish
Spearin's. Of interest, the Sperrin mountains lie between Counties Derry and
Tyrone but the variant Sperrin does not appear in either of these counties. Name / County Spierin Speiran Sperin Spearing Spearin Speirin Sperrin Spearan Spearman TOTAL Carlow - - - - - - - - - Cavan - - - - - - - - - Clare - - - - 1 - - - - 1 Cork - - - - - - - - 2 2 Donegal - - - - - - 1 - - 1 Dublin 6 1 5 - - - 1 - 2 15 Galway - - - - - - - - - Kerry - - - - - - - - - Kildare 1 - - - - - - - - 1 Kilkenny - - - - - - - - - Laois - - - - - - - - - Leitrim - - - - - - - - - Limerick - 2 - - - - - - - 2 Longford - - - - - - - - 1 1 Louth - - - - - - - - 3 3 Mayo - - - - - - - - - Meath - - - - - - - - - Monaghan - - - - - - - - - Offaly - - - - - - - - - Roscommon - - - - - - - - - Sligo - - - - - - - - - Tipperary - - - - - - - - 3 3 Waterford - - - - - - - - - Westmeath - - - - - - - - - Wexford - - - - - - - - - Wicklow - - - - - - - - - Antrim - - - - - - - - - Armagh - - - - - - - - - Derry - - - - - - - - - Down - - - - - - - - - Fermanagh - - - - - - - - - Tyrone - - - - - - - - - TOTAL 7 3 5 0 1 0 2 0 11 29 Source: online eircom residential telephone book, accessed 24th
March 2011 at http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/ Maurice Gleeson, April 2011 [1] http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/index.xml.
Accessed 24 Mar 2011 [2] http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/.
Accessed 24 Mar 2011 [3] http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/.
Accessed 24 Mar 2011 [4] http://www.eircomphonebook.ie/.
Accessed 24 Mar 2011 What to do now? Please feel free to email us suggestions, modifications
and additions to this page. Specific areas where you could help include:
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Last update: April 2011