More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A flag featuring more than 32,000 surnames of people living in England is flying above Dover Castle ahead of Sunday's Euro final.
English Heritage designed the flag to feature the surname of almost everyone living in England today, including the likes of Kane, Sterling, Pickford and Phillips – either in the red or white of the St George Cross – and is flying it at its castles and palaces around the country as a nation unites under one hope: football’s coming home.
The flag was hoisted above Dover Castle - known as the Key to England - today.
The surnames – from Aamir to Zyla, arranged alphabetically – capture family names in England with over 100 occurrences in the country, and people can search for theirs on a digital flag online. For those whose surname is particularly rare, they can also add to the record by submitting it for inclusion.
See the flag flying above Dover Castle here
Matt Thompson, English Heritage’s head collections curator, said: “History may be made at Wembley on Sunday and English Heritage is cheering on the team by flying the England flag at our castles and palaces across the country.
"The surnames on our England flag connect the country’s past, present and future and we hope that our flag will remind people that everyone living here today – including the Kanes and Sterlings – will shape the England of the future.
!Hopefully, that immediate future will be one in which England have won the Euros.”
Professor John Denham, director of the Centre for English Identity and Politics at the University of Southampton and who originally suggested the idea to English Heritage, added: “At a time when the telling of history can spark controversy, this flag symbolises an essential truth: England and its people have been shaped by our shared histories and England’s future story on and off the pitch will be told by all the people who are making their lives here today.”
To view the digital flag of England, and search for your surname, click here.
