The most common surnames in the British Isles has been identified after researchers found the origins of more than 45,000 surnames.

A team, led by researchers at the University of West of England in Bristol, found the linguistic origins, history and geographical distribution of 45,602 family names in Britain and Ireland after a four-year study.

In addition, Farah, Twelvetrees and Li are also among a list of 8,000 names that have been explained for the first time.

Their findings have been published in the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, which is available from today.

The key findings include:

In addition, they found the most common surnames to be:

Researchers found nearly 40,000 family names are native to Britain and Ireland, while the others stem from immigrants who settled in the 16th century to the present day, including Dutch, Jewish, Indian, Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and African.

Professor Richard Coates said: "There is widespread interest in family names and their history.

"Our research uses the most up-to-date evidence and techniques in order to create a more detailed and accurate resource than those currently available."

"We have paid particular attention, wherever possible, to linking family names to locations.

"Some surnames have origins that are occupational - obvious examples are Smith and Baker; less obvious ones are Beadle, Rutter, and Baxter.

"Other names can be linked to a place, for example Hill or Green, which relates to a village green. Surnames which are 'patronymic' are those which originally enshrined the father's name - such as Jackson, or Jenkinson.

"There are also names where the origin describes the original bearer such as Brown, Short, or Thin - though Short may in fact be an ironic 'nickname' surname for a tall person."