Willis .— -Age and Area. 207 
show an average proportion of 15-8 per 10,000 names (of farmers) in the 
county. But if we split up the 2,443 into ten groups we find : 
Names beginning with Average proportion per name 
per 10,000 names of farmers. 
A, B 
326 
names 
15-4 
C 
208 
yy 
1 5*7 
D, E, F 
262 
yy 
13-9 
G, H 
329 
yy 
16-9 (maximum) 
I,J, K,L 
241 
yy 
15.8 
M, N, 0 
225 
yy 
16-6 
i\ Q, R 
255 
yy 
14-9 (minimum) 
s 
237 
yy 
! 5'4 
T, U, V 
191 
yy 
I 5 , 5 
w, Y 
169 
yy 
15.0 
A most extraordinary resemblance is thus to be seen among these ten 
groups whose individual size is given in the table. The whole range of average 
occurrence is only from 14-9 to 16-9 per 10,000. The larger figure for G 
and H is due to the occurrence there of unusually large proportions of 
‘ stay-at-home ’ names. These are, however, well distributed over the 
country, the only regions in which there are none being Wales and some of 
the Eastern Counties. 
If we go on to the names which are above a density of six in two 
counties, we find, taking the larger number of the two in each case, that the 
proportions vary in the same ten groups from 18-5 to 25-6, with an average 
of 21-9. Thus the minimum here is a good deal higher than the maximum 
for the names of one county only. In the same way the ‘ threes ’ show 
a range yet larger again (corresponding to the diminishing numbers) with an 
average of 27*1. 
It will be noticed that the average proportion in the county with the 
largest representation shows an increase with the number of counties 
covered by the name, and when we tabulate the figures we get the follow¬ 
ing interesting result: 
Number of counties in which a Average commonness per 10,000 
commonness of 7 per 10,000 in the county with the maximum, 
is reached. 
1 
2,443 names 
15.8 
2 
650 
yy 
21.9 
3 
268 
yy 
27.1 
4 , 5 
213 
yy 
35-8 1 
6 , 7 , 8 
150 
yy 
40.8 
9-12 
72 
yy 
64.6 
13-20 
78 
yy 
90.2 
Over 20 
53 
1 
yy 
' 44 * 1 
1 The fours show a maximum proportion of 33-8. 
>* fives ,, ,, ,, 38*8* 
In other words, the more widely distributed over the country the name has 
become, the more common is it in the region where it appears to have 
started (what was said above about polyphyly being borne in mind). This 
is exactly parallel to what is seen in plants and animals, just as was the 
