Roans in Scotland

[ROAN1949]

Just a very broad-based question: Does anyone know if ROAN  is a fairly common name in Scotland?  At one time I thought one of my ancestors was a Scottish drover, driving cattle from Scotland down to London, with some sort of connection in Liverpool (where most of my family are from.)  I think I was following the wrong Roans but there could be a link.

Thanks,
Tony Roan

[Gadget]

Hi Tony

It doesn't appear to be. I've just checked the births/baptisms on Scotlands People:

Roan:

1553-1854 - 107
1855-1906 - 122

I didn't use soundex 

It might be worth thinking Rowan -

Same time periods with Rowan:

1167
1733

Gadget

[ROAN1949]

Thanks Gadget,

There is a bit of confusion with Roan/Rowan in our family.   My father,  who had about 15 brothers and sisters, all shown as Roan on their birth certificates,  was registered as Rowan.  They all had the same father.  But it turned out that their father could have been a William Rowan!  I suppose in those days, 1880s or there abouts, and before, when a lot of them couldn't read or write ( and maybe a deaf registrar!) there were bound to be spelling mistakes.  Fascinating subject this family history, isn't it?

Thanks again,
Tony Roan 

[runningbear]

there is 45 roan's on the 1841 census, most born scotland but a few born ireland

Joe

[ROAN1949]

Thanks I'll have a look.   I might find something.

Ta,
TR

[Gadget]

The surname profiler has an interesting distribution in 1881:

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0167/


Gadget


http://www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames/

[ROAN1949]

Thanks again Gadget.  What a fascinating site. Can learn a lot from that, especially if the surname isn't too common. 

Tony,

[Gadget]

Did you look at the 1998 distribution. It looks like they are now mostly in Scotland.

It is a super site - I forgot about it in relation to your query until this morning

However, it does only show where most of them are/were rather than whether it is common or not. i still think it is quite uncommon but that would mean getting a total of all Roans and dividing that into the number of Scots - you fancy doing some sums on a wet Saturday afternoon 

Gadget

[ROAN1949]

I'm going to get a reputation for being a bit thick (no change there, then,) but what is Soundex?
Bearing in mind this question comes from someone who has worked in I.T. for the last 20 years!