From the Sheffield Independent, September 1929. The newspaper looked at the most popular surnames in a list of Sheffield citizens. “Many illustrious names have disappeared from the official list of Sheffield citizens during the passage of more than eight centuries since Sheffield first became a manor. Of these, the family name of Roger de Buslin, the first Lord of the Manor, is now entirely unknown – a fate that is also shared by that of his early successors, the Lovetots and, whilst the family names of the Furnivals, the Talbots and the Howards are still in existence, they are by no means popular. To the name Smith – which comes to us from the Dutch, meaning ‘worker with a hammer’ – goes the palm for numerical superiority, it appears no fewer than 740 times, which at a moderate estimate of three in a family, would bring the total number of Smiths in Sheffield to well over two thousand.” The other popular family surnames in ranked order were Brown, Robinson, Wood, Jones, Wragg and Cook. Amongst the most unusual names were Godbehere, Reckless, Love, Hater, Strike, Charity and even a Virgin. Of this last list, I know at least one in modern Sheffield, but sadly have never met a Virgin.
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