Grandparent surnames in the 1940 Census

[Last Saturday, Randy Seaver, in his blog Genea-Musings, suggested looking at grandparent surnames and seeing how many are in the 1940 Census. He also asked if we had done a “one-name search” for any of those surnames.]

My four grandparents surnames and the number with that surname in the 1940 U.S. Census are:

• • Roberts – 199,363 people*
  • Barnes – 109,928 people
  • Brown – 755,566 people
  • Montran – 3 people

My wife’s four grandparents last names at birth, and the exact number with those last names in the 1940 U.S. census are:

• • Howell – 61,015 people
  • Hobbs – 25,280 people
  • Darling – 11,404 people
  • Huber – 22,633 people

I have performed an extensive “one name search” for Montran and have set up alerts with Newspapers.Com, Genealogy Bank, and Newspaper Archives so that I am alerted when “Montran” is mentioned. Then I include news of the Montrans in my tree and my blog.

* The source for all numbers is Family Search.