There are just under 3 million people living in Greater Manchester today.
Across the ten boroughs, two cities, and 493 square miles, there’s more than 112,000 different surnames to be found.
Genealogy website Forebears has published data showing the incredible range of monikers in Greater Manchester – revealing the most popular in the region.
‘Smith’ emerged as the runaway ‘winner’ (apparently there are more than 29,000 people with this surname in this part of the country) with Jones, Taylor, Williams and Brown all making the top five.
The most common 50 surnames are listed below. Where does yours rank?
A new piece of research has revealed the most common names across GM’s ten boroughs / Image: Wikimedia Commons
Smith 29,118
Jones 25,113
Taylor 21,163
Williams 14,107
Brown 12,144
Davies 11,922
Johnson 10,825
Khan 9,993
Wilson 9,846
Jackson 9,789
Patel 9,556
Roberts 9,416
Robinson 9,233
Walker 8,716
Hughes 8,680
Wood 8,105
Ahmed 8,076
Harrison 7,670
Thompson 7,658
Kelly 7,657
Evans 7,611
Begum 7,474
Shaw 7,361
Ali 7,295
Green 7,193
Greater Manchester is home to just under 3 million people / Image: Wikimedia Commons
Hall 7,095
Hussain 6,984
Wright 6,933
Clarke 6,921
Turner 6,732
Edwards 6,524
Lee 6,443
Morris 6,278
Thomas 6,189
Murphy 6,061
Walsh 6,054
Ward 5,870
Hill 5,842
White 5,458
Booth 5,422
Cooper 5,350
Howarth 5,068
Moore 4,917
Bailey 4,912
Buckley 4,813
Holt 4,768
Bennett 4,742
Wilkinson 4,577
Martin 4,505
Lewis 4,493
The full list – which features a grand old total of 941 names – is available online at Forebears.
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Former Manchester United star Patrice Evra is set to make his MMA debut very soon
Danny Jones
In another somewhat left-field turn of events in the sporting world, ex-Manchester United star Patrice Evra is set to swap his boots for gloves as he prepares to make his MMA debut.
The retired Man United player and French international ended his playing days back in 2019 after a short one-year spell at West Ham, and has mostly worked as a pundit in recent years.
Evra, 43, stunned his millions of followers online and even more football and fight fans alike by announcing he would be trying his hand at combat sports earlier this week.
Hopping on social media to confirm the news, it’s fair to say he’s already relishing the challenge.
The former left-back made 379 appearances for the Red Devils, winning 14 trophies, but this will be his first in the European division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL), the second-biggest promotion in MMA after the UFC.
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As far as we know, Evra has little to no background in fighting of any discipline, even if he was used to the more physical side of the game as a defender.
Writing via X on Friday, 25 April, the 2008 Champions League and ’09 Club World Cup winner, said: “I’m officially training for my first fight with PFL Europe. They will pick my opponent… They asked who I wanna face. I said: Luis Suárez.
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“I’ll pay out of pocket. He can even bite me.”
Suárez, still playing at 38, was not only found guilty of at least three instances of biting other players but was famously charged with racially abusing Patrice Evra back in 2011, with the two sharing a strong feud ever since.
Now, since the Uruguayan striker is still playing professional football over in the MLS, alongside the one and only Lionel Messi at Inter Miami, we wouldn’t hold our breaths.
Nevertheless, it seems as though he will be fighting someone on 23 May, once an opponent is selected in the coming weeks.
Evra has been training with Cameroonian-French mixed martial artist and friend, Cédric Doumbé, a former kickboxing specialist and now an established fighter in the welterweight class.
Joking aside, although there are a lot of controversial moves that are legal in MMA, biting isn’t one of them – not that it ever stopped the former Liverpool forward in the past.
Speaking in an official press conference, Evra said: “I’ve performed on the world’s biggest stages, won every major trophy in football, but PFL Europe Paris will be an incredibly special night for me.
“I’ve been training alongside the best in the world for years, and they’ll also tell you I’m ready for this. I’m going to put on a show at the Accor Arena on 23 May, so come watch the spectacle.”
As out of the blue as it may seem, he obviously isn’t the only former athlete to have swapped one sport for another after calling time in their first career.
In fact, he’s not even the first United player to change lanes.
Mix-up leaves tourists bound for Peak District on a day trip to… Rochdale
Daisy Jackson
Who needs rolling hills and country pubs when you could have *checks notes* roadworks and charity shops?
Well, that’s the situation two people ended up in recently after a mix-up rerouted their trip to the Peak District to Rochdale, of all places.
Thankfully seeing the funny side, Canadian TikTok creator Mackenzie shared a video of the day trip they got stuck with.
The pair of mates had been planning a trip to the honeypot town of Castleton in the Peak District, but accidentally ended up heading over to Castleton in Rochdale instead.
In the light-hearted clip, she says: “This is just a reminder to read the small print when you want to do a spontaneous trip. Because Margarita and I thought we were going to the Peaks, and this is where we are…” while panning to the sight of some roadworks.
She continued: “We thought we were going to see gorgeous green hills. Nope.
“Anyways, come with us on our Castleton Manchester, not Peak District adventure.”
They visited Springfield Park, went to a pub to eat onion rings (with a random giant dog staring at them), erm… went to a charity shop, and looked at some houses.
Okay so not quite the Peak District paradise they were picturing.
One person commented: “Absolutely howling. Come all the way from America to end up in Rochdale” (Mackenzie stressed in her reply that she lives in Manchester and also, is Canadian).
Another said: “It’s the Springfield park for me”
Someone else suggested: “Rochdale should rename all of its areas to encourage more tourists. Hahah”
Dying to know if these girls ever made it to Castleton, Derbyshire.
The Manc -
28th June 2021 
