I was the same way, for years when I was a child and we'd go on family vacations, we'd look in each city phone book to see if there were any Epton's in that city, normally there weren't. Now I look on the internet and the name is more common than I realized. My family is now down to where there are no males to carry on the name, we had 3 girls (my sisters and I) and a boy (my brother) and he ended up with 2 girls. So that's the end of it for us. I'm in Alabama.