Q. How can I find out what nationality my surname is?

A. You can look up your surname in a variety of references. Ancestry.com has a surname meaning database in its Learning Center. Scroll to the bottom of the page, select Place and Origin, type in your name and hit enter. The information comes from The Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford University Press).

Your library may have this and other books for you to consult, such as A Dictionary of English Surnames by Percy H. Reaney (Oxford Paperback Reference) and A Dictionary of Surnames by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges (Oxford).

You also can find references focusing on a particular nationality or ethnicity, such as The Surnames of Wales By John Rowlands and Sheila Rowlands (Genealogical Publishing Co., available in ShopFamilyTree.com), and Dictionary of German Names by Hans Bahlow (Max Kade Institute).

Another surname research strategy is to participate in a Y-DNA surname study. (If you’re a woman, you’d need to have a male relative who inherited the surname through male lines take the test.) By comparing your test results to the results and research of others in the study, you’ll get an idea of where your family members with this surname originated. For more details on surname studies, see the September 2010 Family Tree Magazine (available July 20).

Keep in mind, though, that the present version of your surname may have been altered from the original. Immigrants to the United States, for example, often changed their names to sound more “American.” Our contributing editor Nancy Henrickson always thought her Shore ancestors were English, but she discovered through genealogical research that the name had been changed from the Swiss Schorr. Having a surname that's common in a certain country doesn't necessarily mean that's where your family came from.

For more advice about how to tackle tough research questions, see Family Tree Magazine's book 101 Brick Wall Busters: Solutions to Overcome Your Genealogical Challenges, the Family Tree Magazine webinar recording Brick Wall Strategies: Advice and Ideas for Getting Past Research Dead Ends, and the Family Tree Problem Solver, all available from ShopFamilyTree.com.