Traditional African Nova Scotian Family Names and Communities by Region

The Government of Nova Scotia provides a dataset listing predominant and traditional family names of African Nova Scotians across six regions of the province. It includes over 48 traditional communities, mapping family names and communities to specific geographic areas. The data supports cultural, historical, and demographic research related to African Nova Scotian heritage.

Use Cases

• Mapping the distribution of traditional surnames across Nova Scotia using the 'Regions' and 'Family Names' columns.
• Identifying all African Nova Scotian communities within a specific region using the 'Regions' and 'African NS Communities in the Region' columns.
• Analyzing regional cultural heritage by linking family names to their associated communities using all three columns.

Strengths

• Contains data on over 48 distinct traditional African Nova Scotian communities.
• Covers six defined geographic regions within Nova Scotia, providing structured spatial organization.
• Published by the Government of Nova Scotia, indicating an official source.

Limitations

• Conflicting last update dates exist between sources (2022-08 24 vs. 2026-04-17), casting doubt on data freshness.
• No row count or dataset size information is provided, making scale assessment difficult.
• Column details are only available from one platform, limiting metadata completeness.

Provenance

Source

Government of Nova Scotia | Gouvernment de la Nouvelle-Écosse

Collection Method

Likely compiled from official records, community knowledge, or historical sources.

Time Range

null

Freshness

2026-04-17 15:33:50.211515

Geography

Six regions within Nova Scotia, Canada: Halifax Metro, South Shore and Yarmouth and Acadian Shore, Bay of Fundy and Annapolis Valley, Northumberland Shore, Eastern Shore, and Cape Breton Island.