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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 2003-06 > 1057014157


From: "Chris Dickinson" <>
Subject: Re: [Q-R] Common Names (was "Martyr" John Smith)
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 00:02:37 +0100
References: <20030630162703.45636.qmail@web40401.mail.yahoo.com> <004f01c33f31$eb77f300$21708041@DD4YP911>


Well, yes, having a Smith in the family tree doesn't help!

BUT don't forget that Smith is common because it was an occupational name
used all over the place (the other possibility - that Smiths, being strong,
well endowed with manorial assets, and working by necessity in dimly lit,
warm and intimate surroundings, simply had more children than Fletchers,
Bowmans and Millers - I leave to your imagination). Go into the micro
environment and suddenly Smith isn't the big problem.

Take, for instance, the area that I research in the UK. This has relatively
(so to speak) few Smiths - but lots and lots and lots of patronymic names
like Jackson and Harrison. Get a John Jackson in your ancestral tree and you
are in trouble.

I'd guess that the same sort of saturation problem happens with Quaker
families. There is a much smaller pool of surnames than in the big wide
world, and presumably more incidence of people with the same name.


Chris



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