How common are these last names?

How common are the following last names in the US? I'm curious to know do people find them rare or weird as a last name.





Raven


Caulfield


Zager


Riddle


Rainville





Thank you!

How common are these last names?
None of these names is particularly rare. They may, however, be locally concentrated regionally rather than known nationally. Addi tonally, it may have to do with the immigrants that settled different areas of the country








Let's take Riddle, for instance. I am from the South and I have a lot of relatives named that because the Riddle family were from North Carolina.





Then Zager. Sounds Dutch or German and could be from the upper Midwest or Pennsylvania where those people settled. I am almost sure that Zager is the original name for what became the "Americanized" Seager or Sager.





Of course, Caufield is the last name of the protagonist from "Catcher in the Rye"
Reply:The US Census Bureau


http://www.census.gov/genealogy/www/name...


says





NAME (last) %FREQ RANK


RAVEN 0.001 10,578


CAULFIELD 0.001 8,316


ZAGER 0.001 12,283


RIDDLE 0.014 871


RAINVILLE 0.001 15,696





That is, only .001% of the US population has the surname "RAVEN"; it is 10,578th in popularity, with "Smith" being 1st. Same idea for the others.





Riddle is the only one to break the 1,000 mark. There was a famous band leader, Nelson Riddle. The rest are rare indeed.
Reply:If you're looking at an entire country, any of them could be rare.


Break it down to a specific location, county or city, and they may not be as rare.





Everyone in my hometown with my maiden name was/is related to me, for a total of 32 people. To me, that's rare.





In the county (different State) where my dad was born, there are about 3,000 people who have (by birth) my maiden name, and they're all related to me. Not such a rarity!





In my opinion, it seems more geographical, rather than whether or not a name is rare or weird.





I've been researching my family history for 30 years.


Believe me, I've come across some surnames, which I thought were weird in the beginning.


But now, they're just surnames, which identify my ancestors.
Reply:I've known people with the last names Riddle and Caulfield. Not that uncommon from where I grew up. Just because we may not have heard of a name before does not mean it's weird.
Reply:Check the website, www.howmanyofme.com.


It's fun!
Reply:Id say they're all pretty rare for where I live! I dont know about other states though. common here would be "johnson" or "miller"
Reply:Caulfield is normal. Everything else seems like it would be a faux pas for the US.
Reply:the most common last name in the US is "smith".


n about these last names,i should say they seem a bit rare!
Reply:I dont know anyone with those last names but i dont think their weird
Reply:um......... well they are pretty common i have some friends with those last names and some tachers um yah theyre common
Reply:I have heard of the last name Riddle
Reply:I knew one girl with the last name Riddle..the others I've never heard before.





Pretty rare I guess
Reply:Not common at all....lol
Reply:rare
Reply:i don't know