What's in a name? Well, a lot. Your last name has a lot of history with all the good, bad, and everything in-between that goes with it.

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Fortunately for me, one of my cousins from my dad's side of the family spent many years researching our family name's history. It was pretty fascinating, complete with pictures and revealing some things we didn't know and correcting some things we thought were true.

Have you ever researched your ancestry or asked your parents, or grandparents for information on your family history? You might find it quite interesting. And how common might your last name be?

According to Ancestry.com from a survey in 2014, the three most common names from first to third in the State of New York are Smith, Williams, and Brown. I'm sure most of us have friends or relatives with one or more of those last names, or maybe one of them is your last name.

As for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the three most common names from first to third are Smith, Miller, and Williams. According to Ancestry.com, the top five most common names in the United States are Johnson, Miller, Jones, Williams, and Anderson, with Smith being the most popular in the majority of states.

On the Ancestry.com website, you can type in your last name to learn about its meaning and origin. I typed in 'Morgan' and found out that the origin is Welsh. It's from the Medieval Welsh Personal Name Morgan Morgant. And as of that 2014 survey, there were 11 million records for the name 'Morgan.' I'm sure there are more now.

If you haven't done so, I suggest you look into your family history and pass it along to your kids or anyone else in your family. That way future generations will know who their ancestors were.

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