What is in a name?

When using the "World Names Profiler," I found that me last name of Cotter is most prevalent in Ireland.  I also found that my mothers maiden name, and my grandmothers are both prevalent in Germany.  I enjoyed seeing this because I had always been told of my German background yet, my father never really could tell me where our last name was from.  Being a German-Irish makes me happy for the fact that it tells me a little bit about where I come from.  The down side of this is that people of Germans and Irish are background are more likely to become alcoholics, and with having both... Not good.