Forbears has been around since 2012, a powerful tool letting you track your surname. Using newspaper mentions, birth and death records, and other sources, it’ll let you map out your name on a global scale.
You can find out the most popular surnames per country, find out the density of your surname in different countries, as well as find out the meanings and variation of your surname across the world.
The most comprehensive name mapping tool to date, Forbears is the perfect little tool to sink hours into if you love a little digging into your ancestry.
While there are multiple tools and websites that perform a similar function, Forbears aims to aggregate all the available information into one place, allowing for a more comprehensive and streamlined experience than before.
So if you’re keen on a little digging into where your name comes from, or where it’s popular, this is your go-to. Find out if your grandpa’s rattling on about your conquistador roots had any substance, or just research up on your next run-in with surname related small talk.
This article originally appeared on Motherboard.
