An Analysis of the Geographical Distribution of Selected British Surnames

Document Type

Article

Authors

J L. Boldsen, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark and Department of Social Medicine, Odense, Denmark
C G.N Mascie-Taylor, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
G W. Lasker, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan

Abstract

Surname distributions model the population distribution of a highly polymorphic gene. In order to gain information about the population-dynamics in the English-Welsh population the frequency distributions of 8 common surnames are analyzed by means of trend-surface analysis and multivariate statistical procedures. Some of the names show statistically significant dependency on fifth order two-dimensional polynomials of the geographical coordinates. The names with overt differences of frequencies in different areas tend to have marginal areas of maximum frequency.

Erratum

The frequency distributions shown in Figure 2 belong with the caption of Figure 3 and the frequency distributions shown in Figure 3 belong with the caption of Figure 2.

Recommended Citation

Boldsen, J L.; Mascie-Taylor, C G.N; and Lasker, G W. (1986) "An Analysis of the Geographical Distribution of Selected British Surnames," Human Biology: Vol. 58: Iss. 1, Article 9.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol58/iss1/9