The country with the most Hitlers? Or where to find the most Obamas?

The World Names Profiler is a web site where you can search for the popularity of surnames sorted by country, region and even by city.

The service currently covers 26 different countries and was developed by geographers at University College in London. The data was mined from telephone directories and national electoral registries. In total, the site holds over 8 million different surnames.

Despite the serious nature of the data, I actually had a blast playing around with it for about 15 minutes. Some of the more “interesting” facts I discovered are:

  • Japan has the highest concentration of people called “Obama”
  • 59.13 people per million are called McCain in the United States
  • Australia has the most Smiths of any country in the world
  • There are 10 people in New Zealand with “Nazi” as their surname
  • Mequon, Wisconsin is home to several members of the Hitler family
  • Spain is home to 3.67 people per million called Penis
  • White is the most popular colored surname, with 3304 per million, in Australia
  • And best of all….2.15 people per million have Gadling as their surname (in India)

Now it’s your turn! How popular is your name, or can you find any other hilarious surnames from around the globe?