SUCCESSFUL AMERICANS 399 



selected on account of special prominence in creditable lines of effort, 

 making them the subjects of extensive interest, inquiry or discussion in 

 this country; and (2) those who are arbitrarily included on account of 

 official position — civil, military, naval, religious, or educational." The 

 arbitrary class embraces, without regard to notability or prominence in 

 any other respect, the following : all members of congress ; all governors 

 of states, territories and island possessions of the United States now 

 in office; all United States judges; all judges of state and territorial 

 courts of highest appellate jurisdiction; members of the cabinet; 

 federal department heads; all officers of the army above the rank of 

 colonel, and all of the navy above the rank of captain; all American 

 ambassadors and ministers plenipotentiary ; heads of all the larger uni- 

 versities and colleges; members of the National Academy of Sciences, 

 and of the National Academy of Design; heads of all the leading 

 national societies devoted to educational and scientific aims; bishops 

 and chief ecclesiastics of all the larger religious denominations in the 

 United States; and those who are in like manner chosen because of 

 their official relations and affiliations. 



In the tables below I present the lists of the most frequent names in 

 New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston as drawn from the World 

 Almanac for 1914, and opposite each, the number residing in each city 

 who are included in the 1912-1913 edition of "Who's Who in 

 America." 



Other names of five or more of the same name in " Who's Who " 

 residing in New York, but not included in the above, are Abbott, Adams, 

 Alexander, Baker, Chapin, Clarke, Cooper, Curtis, Davis, Eaton, Fiske, 

 Foster, Fuller, Gilbert, Greene, Holt, Johnston, Lawrence, Lee, Merrill, 

 Mitchell, Morgan, Morse, Norton, Parsons, Perry, Phelps, Porter, Post, 

 Putnam, Richards, Russell, Scott, Stokes, Thomas, Vanderbilt, Walker, 

 Warren, Wood. 



All these with the exception of Scott, which is a characteristic 

 Scottish name, and Vanderbilt, which is Dutch, are characteristically 

 English names. It would seem that the original Dutch element has not 

 maintained itself in general leadership in New York. The English 

 element has. I suspect that much of the concentrated eminence now in 

 New York City is due to migration of New England strains from 

 Connecticut and Massachusetts, which states I have already shown to 

 lead in proportion to their population in all forms of creditable activity, 

 and no matter what be the criterion of distinction. 1 



If these fifty commonest names in New York City are arranged in 

 the order in which they are most common on the other side of the 

 Atlantic, 19 of these names will fall to England and Wales, 8 to Scot- 

 land, 15 to Ireland, while 8 are characteristic^ German or Jewish. 



1 " Historiometry as an Exact Science," Science, April 14, 1911. 



