Is your surname one of the most common in the UK?

A team of university researchers has revealed the origins of more than 45,000 of the most popular surnames in the UK and Ireland in a new dictionary published today.

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland is the work of researchers who spent four years looking at a variety of names, from the most common to the highly obscure.

The team, led by the University of the West of England, analysed sources dating from the 11th to the 19th century, reports the BBC.

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Each entry includes the frequencies of the name at the time of the 1881 and 2011 censuses, its main location in Britain and Ireland, its language or culture of origin, and an explanation supported by historical evidence for the name.

Project leader Professor Richard Coates says the list is "more detailed and accurate" than those before it.

About 8,000 names are explained for the first time, he adds, including Farah and Li or Lee.

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What are the top five?

The five most popular names are quite easily guessed – Smith is number one with more than 400,000 bearers in 1881 and 500,000 today. Jones had more than 300,000 in 1881 and currently has 400,000, while Williams had just over 200,000 in 1881 and has nearly 300,000 now.

Brown and Taylor round off the top five with just under 200,000 in 1881 and just over 250,00 bearers today.

The team found that over 90 per cent of the 45,602 surnames in the dictionary are native to Britain and Ireland, while "the remainder can be traced to immigrants who have settled from the 16th century to the present day", says the Daily Telegraph.

Where do our names come from?

About 10,000 of the most common names are locative, meaning they derive from place names; a quarter are relationship names, such as Dawson; and a fifth are nicknames, reports The Guardian.

"Some surnames have origins that are occupational – obvious examples are Smith and Baker; less obvious ones are Beadle, Rutter, and Baxter," says Prof Coates.

"There are also names where the origin describes the original bearer such as Brown, Short or Thin – though Short may in fact be an ironic 'nickname' surname for a tall person," he adds.