Last names can reveal a great deal about where a person’s journey began, tracing back multiple generations. It’s one of the reasons people used to be very keen on having a male child to preserve the family name, therefore preserving the lineage. Until more recently, it was expected that nearly all female children would get married as young adults, adopting their husband’s surname.

While women still largely take their husband’s last name as their own, more women are choosing to keep their maiden names. Other women are choosing not to marry at all, avoiding the legal paperwork, and instead valuing domestic partnership. But even with slightly fewer women dropping their maiden names, MyHeritage, a global family history platform, notes that a list of surnames is near extinction. The revelation comes after the researchers for the platform reviewed the U.S. Census Bureau database.

Here’s how they found these names

Researchers were originally looking for last names that have surged in the U.S. and those that have declined. Their discovery was shocking. They found that........

© Upworthy