The Last Poppleberrys: A Surname on the Brink

Ever wondered what it's like to carry a name shared by only 50 people on Earth? Herman Poppleberry traces his own surname from a windswept English marsh through a genetic bottleneck to a single ancestor in Kent. Along the way: why "popple" probably means poplar tree, how spelling variations nearly erased the name twice, and the strange weight of being one of the last bearers of a three-century-old legacy. Plus: the most famous Poppleberry in history once wrote a letter about potholes.