Scientists Compared England's Last Names From 1086 to Today — The Same Families Are Still on Top!

In 1086, William the Conqueror ordered every landholder in England counted, creating the Domesday Book. Nine centuries later, researchers put that medieval list of Norman surnames next to modern records from Oxford and Cambridge, and what they found challenges everything we assume about how families rise and fall. We trace each name back to its Norman village, follow the families through castles, battles, and executions, and then across the Atlantic to Jamestown and colonial Virginia. Is your surname on the list? Sources: https://link.springer.com/article/10.... https://faculty.econ.ucdavis.edu/facu... https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60593/1/__l... https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/h... https://opendomesday.org/ https://www.domesdaybook.net/