Interactive maps are really one of the most striking and interesting things that you can access quickly and easily. It is true that when talking about maps, Google Maps seems the first option to consider. However, for this type of curiosities it is better to resort to other options.
Others like the one presented today in this article. Specifically, there is a map of surnames that you allows to obtain interesting information about its origin. It will even locate where relatives you don’t know live. And if you have an unusual last name, all the better.
The website mapadeapellidos.eu is today’s recommendation, whose objective is to provide information on the location of a specific surname in spainas well as in the Canary and Balearic Islands.
There are some surnames who are very common in this country like López or García, and even González, as you will be able to see. But there are many others that have a lower prevalence in Spain, either because it is much rarer, it comes from another European area, for example, or simply because it is grouped in a very specific geographical area.
Find out how common your last name is in Spain with this map
Upon entering the page, you will find a blank map and a space at the top. In this you can enter a surname individually, but you can also write the combination of two surnames. Once written, you can click on ‘Search’.
Of course, it is important to note that you must write the surname without accents even if it does, since the system does not accept surnames that have accents and results in a very large text in red that says ‘UNLOCALIZABLE SURNAME’.
According to the legend of the map located in the lower right corner, You will be able to see in circles of different sizes the areas where people with that last name reside. In addition, specific information is given on the number of localities in which it is present. González, in this case, there are 15,705.
In the same way, If you look at the bottom, you will find other relevant information about the last name. For example, González or López come from the 12th century and mean ‘son of’ and are characteristic of both Castilians.
As they themselves point out, the project is inspired by a similar tool developed in Italy and its database is drawn from telephone directories from the 1990s, which are practically extinct today.
Note that you also have another interactive map, this time from the INE (National Institute of Statistics), where you can search for names and surnames according to the census of each Spanish town.
