Following on from the dissolution of the union thread, I was interested in how far back people are able to trace their families using their surname, and whether or not it's a solid enough family name for them to be able to confirm the "ancestral homeland", as it were, of their direct family.

I got this link through my e-mail the other day which should serve of some interest, although none to me as the two "true" family surnames I have were in America and Germany respectively at this time.

http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/default.aspx