SurnameGuessr: the free daily game where you guess which country a surname comes from
What is SurnameGuessr?
SurnameGuessr is a free daily geography game about the origins of family names. Every day at midnight on your local clock, a new set of ten surnames is published. For each one you work out which country it comes from and click that country on an interactive world map.
The surnames are drawn from every region of the world, including West Africa, the Caucasus, Southeast Asia, the Andes and the Pacific islands, well beyond the European names that dominate most datasets. Each has a documented country of origin, so every round teaches you something about geography, language and migration.
How to play
- A surname appears at the top of the screen.
- Look at its endings, its prefix and its spelling for clues about which language it belongs to.
- Click the country you think it comes from on the world map.
- The map reveals the answer straight away, along with the name’s etymology and notable people who carry it.
- Repeat for all ten surnames, then share your score.
A worked example
Say the surname is Schneider. The sch cluster and the -er ending are both strong German markers, and Schneider is the German word for a tailor, which makes it an occupational surname of the same type as Smith.
Click Germany and you take the full 1,000 points. Click Austria instead and you still collect the 500-point language bonus, because German is Austria’s main language too. Clicking France scores nothing, since neither the language nor the country matches.
SurnameGuessr at a glance
| Surnames per game | 10 |
|---|---|
| Maximum daily score | 10,000 |
| New game | Midnight, your local time |
| Guesses per surname | One |
| Hints or multiple choice | None |
| Account required | No |
| Price | Free |
How scoring works
A perfect guess, meaning the exact country of origin, is worth 1,000 points, for a maximum daily score of 10,000. Surnames rarely respect borders, so near misses score too. Many names carry a ranked list of secondary origin countries, and guessing one of those earns between 600 and 956 points depending on how strongly the name is associated with it.
If your guess is not on that list but shares its main language with the correct country, you still collect a 500-point language bonus. Good geographic reasoning is never wasted.
How to get better at it
Read the ending first
Endings carry more information than any other part of a name. -escu points to Romania, -oğlu is a Turkish patronymic, -yan is Armenian, -ić marks the South Slavic countries, and -ez is the Spanish patronymic that fills the phone books of Latin America.
Then check the prefix
O’ and Mc point to Ireland and Scotland, van to the Netherlands, Abu across the Arabic-speaking world. Our guide to surname prefixes covers what each one is actually claiming.
Look for letters only some languages use
The ñ and double ll are Spanish. ã and ç point to Portugal. ø and å are Scandinavian, ł and ż Polish, and clusters of sz or cz narrow you to Poland or Hungary.
Count the syllables and the vowels
Short, vowel-final names of one or two syllables tend to be Japanese. Doubled vowels like aa and ii are everywhere in Finnish. Names built from repeating consonant-vowel syllables often point to sub-Saharan Africa.
Watch for names that mislead
Some names look like one thing and are another. Lewis reads as English and is also Welsh, from Llywelyn, and Jewish, from Levi. Martin is the most common surname in France and independently common across Spain, the Philippines and the English-speaking world. Plenty of Spanish-looking names are Filipino, because a colonial decree handed out Spanish surnames from a catalogue in 1849. A German-looking name may be Ashkenazi rather than German. The full guide to recognising surname origins works through these region by region.
Frequently asked questions
- Is SurnameGuessr free?
- Yes. The daily game is free and always will be, with no account needed to play it. A paid tier adds region-specific modes and the full archive.
- When does a new game come out?
- At midnight on your own clock, so the game rolls over at your local midnight rather than at a fixed hour somewhere else in the world.
- How many guesses do I get?
- One per surname. Ten surnames, ten guesses, and the answer appears as soon as you click.
- What happens if I pick the wrong country?
- You often still score. Many names have secondary origin countries worth 600 to 956 points, and a country sharing the correct language earns a 500-point bonus even when it is not on that list.
- Where do the surnames come from?
- Each one is checked against a name-analysis service and manually curated, and names with a weak or split origin signal are dropped. The full method is on the editorial standards page.
- Can I play older games?
- Yes, through the archive. Archive rounds do not affect your streak, so you can catch up without pressure.
More ways to play
Beyond the daily challenge there is an endless practice mode with random surnames, a full name mode where you guess the nationality of a real, notable person, and region-focused modes for Europe, Asia & the Pacific, and Africa. Signed-in players keep a daily streak.
If you want the history behind the names themselves, the SurnameGuessr blog has 36 sourced articles on individual surnames and national naming systems, starting with when surnames were invented, country by country.