Hardys on the move
Posted on Tuesday 18 April 2006
Bloggish to be sure but at least it's something to keep this site ticking over while I get some work done.
The above picture compares the distributions of the Hardy surname in Britain for the years 1881 and 1998. It was made using an online utility at the University College London website called the Surname Profiler. Why not try it out on your own surname?
Hardy is one of those Germanic invader names, Hardy by name, hardy by nature etc. Although there are now Hardy families scattered right around the globe from the United States and Canada to Australia and New Zealand, it's remarkable to see how comparatively little diffusion has occurred within the UK itself over the past century.
I'm not sure what I'm expecting, people just don't move about as much as we'd like to think, I suppose. Expressed more rigourously, the rate of growth around the family nucleus is generally more likely to exceed the rate of diffusion to other areas. It would be interesting to see how this pattern played out in the colonies where social and geographical mobility was (presumably) greater.
The other thing is I'm not at all certain whether my particular family is even related to these English Hardys. That's because our branch was originally Irish Catholic. In Ulster there are apparently plenty of English surnames amongst Catholics, presumably evidence of some early inter-sectarian marriage. I'm not sure which part of Ireland our lot actually came from — probably not Ulster. This site reckons that the Irish Hardys are a different family altogether, one that had anglicised its old Celtic name, MacGiolla Deacair, firstly to the tongue-twisting Macgilledogher before giving up and going for Hardy. Deacair means "hard" apparently, or difficult or surly. Kind of goes with the territory, let's not forget the Hardy family anthem.
Anyway, the only thing I can be sure about, whether English or Irish, is that I'm almost certainly a descendent of Charlemagne and quite possibly of Queen Nefertiti as well. More naming fun here and here.
Update: In a similar vein, Regions of Mind has an interesting treatment of the distribution of religious denominations within the United States.
I'm not sure what I'm expecting, people just don't move about as much as we'd like to think, I suppose. Expressed more rigourously, the rate of growth around the family nucleus is generally more likely to exceed the rate of diffusion to other areas. It would be interesting to see how this pattern played out in the colonies where social and geographical mobility was (presumably) greater.
The other thing is I'm not at all certain whether my particular family is even related to these English Hardys. That's because our branch was originally Irish Catholic. In Ulster there are apparently plenty of English surnames amongst Catholics, presumably evidence of some early inter-sectarian marriage. I'm not sure which part of Ireland our lot actually came from — probably not Ulster. This site reckons that the Irish Hardys are a different family altogether, one that had anglicised its old Celtic name, MacGiolla Deacair, firstly to the tongue-twisting Macgilledogher before giving up and going for Hardy. Deacair means "hard" apparently, or difficult or surly. Kind of goes with the territory, let's not forget the Hardy family anthem.
Anyway, the only thing I can be sure about, whether English or Irish, is that I'm almost certainly a descendent of Charlemagne and quite possibly of Queen Nefertiti as well. More naming fun here and here.
Update: In a similar vein, Regions of Mind has an interesting treatment of the distribution of religious denominations within the United States.
