Surname Saturday - Oh My What A List!

Oh My! What a List!

The other day, I opened my genealogy program to the list of names, simply interested in just how many surnames I have researched for my family over the past 30 years. And the list has grown exponentially!

What started out as a college assignment, attempting to write a short 3 or 4 generation family tree, has extended from about 10 people to well over 16,000 individuals!

I decided to list the various surnames. I stopped when I got to the end of the 'A's'. For example, here is my list of the 'A' people (listed only by surnames):

Aalst

Abbott

Abell

Abney

Ackerman

Acord

Acuff

ADair

Adams

Adamson

Adelin

Adkins

Adwell

Agee

Aguilera

Aiken

Akins

Albanah

Albert

Albright

Alderson'

Aldridge

Alexander

Alford

Aliff

Allen

Allerton

Allison

Alpin

Altizer

Amell

Amos

Anderson

Andrews

Angel

Angermeuller

Angermiller

Angus

Anjou

Aramberry

Arbaugh

Archibald

Argabrite

Arles

Armentrout

Armetta

Armour

Armstrong

Arnold

Arnsby

Arrington

Artemenko

Arthur

Arundell

Ascott

Ash

Ashcraft

Ashley

Ashworth

Aston'Atha

Atholl

Atkins

Atkinson

Atkisson

Atwell

Aufdemberge

Aurginac

Austin

Astrasia

Autry

Avangino

Aveni

Avery

Ayers

Aylett

And that's simply the surnames beginning with 'A'!

This genealogy that I've done, just on my family has grown, and grown and grown some more! And continues to grow! All of my entries are verified through sources that are credible. (None of this copying someone elses tree!)

Have you checked to see how many people are in your genealogy database?

Each program is a little different than the other, but they are very much alike as well.

I am still running FTM (Family Tree Maker), and upgrade it each time it becomes available. To determine how many individuals are in my tree, I simply click on the PEOPLE tab. I am then given the opportunity to click on FAMILY  or PERSON. By clicking on FAMILY, an index of names comes up. And at the top left corner of the index, I am given a total count on the number of individuals that are in the tree. In this case: 16,344. (I started out with 2 surnames, my Mom's and my Dad's.)

Have you checked to see how large your family index has grown since you first began? How about checking now, and letting us know how many people are in your database? We'd love to hear from you!