I always thought my last name was unusual but when my nephew was killed in Afghanistan soon after 9/11 & his name was splashed across the papers (being one of the first military casualties in the war on terror, his death was a big media event, unlike the thousands after his ...), I found out that there are many with my family name in the midwest & south, which was a surprise to me.

Another big surprise was when I joined facebook recently & I searched my last name. I found about 50 others with it, a few of whom are my known relatives, but there were a great many whom I never heard of living in France (which makes sense since my paternal grandfather was born and grew up in France). Kind of neat to know I'm part of a large extended family. In France.