This is a recently started study and is very much in its infancy.  I will be looking at the name Waghorn.  I first became interested in this surname through my own family history research,  Waghorn is the name of my 3x great grandfather on my paternal side. He was a boat builder and his son followed on in the tradition by working on the water.  I am interested to find out if this is something that runs through the family. 

I wish to find out exactly where the name originated from and more about it's meaning. 

I will be aiming to record all instances of the name Waghorn starting in the areas of Kent,  London and Sussex then moving on to the rest of the country and eventually to the USA and the rest of the world.  My aim is to reconstruct family groups from this data. 

The origin of the surname Waghorn,  is said to be an English(Kent) name composed of middle English Waggen "to wag" and horn.  It is probably an occupational name for a "hornblower" (a watchman,  a town minstrel or a huntsman) or perhaps a ribald nickname. More research is needed into this meaning. 

According to familysearch,  the name is most frequently to be found in England 2,715 people,  New Zealand 117 people and Australia 107 people. 

Forebears lists it as the 125,679th most common surname in the world.

The occurrence of the name Waghorn has changed over time.  In England it has increased  156% between 1881 and 2014, in the USA it has increased 317% between 1880 and 2014, in Scotland it increased 373% between 1881 and 2014.

In England the name is more prevalent in Kent,  Greater London and West Sussex but there are occurrences in Surrey, Essex and other counties in the country.  There are Waghorn's in Scotland,  the USA,  New Zealand,  Australia and Canada as well as other countries across the world.