SURNAMES IN BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20300, 6 July 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

SURNAMES IN BRITAIN.

HALF-A-MILLION SMITHS.

THE GREAT JONES ARMY. An interesting field for reflection is provided by the declaration of an official at the British General Post Office that tho five most plentiful surnames in Great Britain, in the order of their abundance, are Smith, Brown, Jones, Robinson, and Macdonald. The Smiths, says a London commentator, certainly are easily the most numerous of Britons, but tho rest of the list is wrong. Somerset House statistical abstracts have shown that although the Smiths lead with 530,000 individuals, tho Joneses come second with 425,000. There are only 320,000 Browns (and Brownes). Fourth come the Taylors, with 238,800. The Robinsons and the Macdonalds are not even numerous enough to claim a place in the group of one hundred thousanders, which is comprised by the 180,000 Davieses (and Davises), the 158,400 Wilsons, the 122,000 Walkers, tho 120,000 Morrises, and the 108,000 Wrights. The full horror of that army of Joneses is only to be appreciated by the searcher for one of its members in the North Wales telephone directory; the people of that region piteously implored the authorities, not long ago, to split up tho towns and various urban areas for tho directory on that account. Then, at the other end of the scale, come the scarce, rare, and, it is frequently claimed, unique names. An investigation of them is full of surprises. One would imagine he had stumbled on a rarity indeed when lie found a Mr. Gotobed—but there are nearly 450 Gotobeds going to bed every night in Britain. In Cornwall alone there are dozens of Kneebones. A curious disparity exists between the numbers of the Teas and Coffees; there ! are, or were at the last census, only a dozen of the former, whilo the latter I numbered 54. . i There are 150 persons in Britain with ' the surname of Beetle, clearly derived ' from ancestors who were beadles, and tlifare are several Earlyrises, Peppercorns, i Gingers, Mustards, Pitblades, Hairsnak.es, I and Horsenails, not to mention Smokeums, Hatfulls. and Ababreltons.