What is a One-Name Study?

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A one-name study is a project researching all occurrences of a surname, as opposed to a particular pedigree (ancestors of one person) or descendancy (descendants of one person or couple). Some "one-namers" may restrict their research geographically, perhaps to one country, but true one-namers collect all occurrences world-wide.

What would I get from carrying out a one-name study?

People often start one-name studies when they get stuck on part of their own ancestry and believe that if they were to collect all references they find to the surname, then this will lead to a ‘break-through’. Often, it does. Even if it does not, having collected this data you start to become an expert in what might be quite separate family groups to your own. These in themselves may be fascinating, and you will often end up helping others who have a more direct interest in them.

While one-name studies can be quite arduous in terms of data collection, they can also be immensely rewarding, both in your ability to offer new insights into the surname and in being able to assist other family historians around the world.

The Guild defines a One-Name Study as:

Research into the genealogy and family history of all persons with the same surname and its variants.

The Guild only accepts true one-name studies for registration, although anyone with an interest in one-name studies is welcome to become a member.

Besides data collection, your one-name study may concentrate on aspects such as geographical distribution of the name and the changes in that distribution over the centuries, or you may attempt to reconstruct the genealogy of as many lines as possible bearing the name. A frequent aim is to identify a single original location of the name or a single genetic origin, especially if the name appears to derive from a place name. But for many names, for example those indicating an occupation like Butcher, or a patronymic-type surname such as Peterson, there will not be a single origin. Some members also run an associated DNA surname project to assist the analysis of origins.

One-Namers often make some attempt to quantify the rarity of their name. There is much scope for co-operation between one-namers and other genealogists and family historians - they are not a breed apart, and many are also engaged in more conventional pedigree hunting of their ancestors. Many drift into a one-name study as a way of eliminating alternatives when researching a particular ancestral name. Co-operative effort between people studying the same surname bears much fruit and there is a good chance of discovering new relatives - depending of course on how common the name is.

As well as data collection and analysis, we also encourage members to publicise their study, publish its results and preserve them for posterity. You’ll also be responding to those who send enquiries to you. Over time, you will become the global expert on your name and make new friends around the world.

Read about some of the stories of our members.

How do I start a one-name study?