Looking for More Information
on Your Family Name?
By SUSAN-MARY SMITH
Have you ever wondered if your last name was unique to your family? Or have you come across another family with the same name from a similar place, but can't yet make the connection to see if you are related?
One place to check would be the Guild of One Name Studies (www.one-name.org). This UK-based non-profit organization is made up of people who volunteer to collect all information on one particular name they're interested in.
Naturally, most of the names that are registered are fairly rare. There is no one name study for Smith, for example, because that would be not just impractical but impossible for one person to study every occurrence of that name. Also, not all Smiths are from the same root ancestor, because some may have origins in the occupation blacksmith, or silversmith, or coopersmith, and many more.
If, however, you have a somewhat unusual name, check out the Guild's website and see if it is listed. If so, you are in luck. One Name Studies' members register to be responsible for a certain name. As this is all done by volunteer labour, each study will be at a different stage of completion.
For example, I am the Dooley name representative. At this point, I am simply collecting information. People send me tidbits, or even whole families, and I keep all the information together, and respond to queries. Once I have enough information to make a useful database, I will prepare comparisons and details of the Dooleys I know of, and see if any are related.
So far, there appears to be two broad streams of research. There is a strong Dooley component in England, many of whom came directly from Ireland to England either during or after the Potato Famine. Second, there are well-established Dooley families in the United States going back to the 1700s, so they left Ireland long ago.
In addition, I'd like eventually to make contact with people who are doing DNA studies on their Dooley ancestors. There are a couple of excellent personal websites about this subject right now.
If you've had a look at GOONS (yes, we know it's funny) website, but don't find your name there, make sure you check all possible variations. In my own case, I know that Dooley can be also Dooly, Duley and other permutations.
If you still have no luck, you may wish to consider setting up your own One Name Study. Instructions on how to become a member are on the website. Membership has its privileges because not only are you now engaged in a personally fulfilling research project, you also get a subscription to the award-winning Journal of One-Name Studies. Good luck with your research!
Susan-Mary Smith is a family history researcher living in Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada. She can be reached at: smithjosephy@shaw.ca.
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