211 Notes on the Evidence bearing 
counties, people of tlie Scandinavian type seemed to him to 
he common. “ The form of the face is broader than in the 
South, the cheek bones project a little, the nose is somewhat 
flatter, and at times turned a little upwards, the eyes and 
hair are of a lighter colour, and even deep-red hair is far 
from being uncommon. The people are not very tall in 
stature, but usually more compact and strongly built than 
their countrymen towards the south.” He adds that in mid¬ 
land and northern England, particularly in the rural districts 
of the north, he saw every moment persons whom, had he 
met them in Denmark or Norway, he would never have sup¬ 
posed to be foreigners. 
Surnames ending in son, such as Wilson, Anderson, 
Johnson, the Danish form of which is sen, are especially 
common in the north of England. Worsaae states that this 
ending is quite peculiar to the countries of Scandinavia, 
whence it was brought into England, and that the name 
Johnson, so common in England, is also, perhaps, the com¬ 
monest surname in Iceland. But though the evidence derived 
from physical characteristics and surnames is enough to show 
the largeness of the Scandinavian ingredient in our population 
north of the ancient Watling Street, it is likely that the pre¬ 
sent holders of surnames of Scandinavian type are by no 
means so exclusively Scandinavian as their names, apart from 
any mixture of races since their arrival here. For certain 
names, such as John and Thomas, did not come into use in 
England till after the Norman Conquest, and surnames were 
unknown here before that period. Dr. Beddoe, 23 who has 
fully discussed the evidence bearing upon early surnames, 
states that in a list of tenants of the Bishopric of Durham, 
dating from 1183, patronymics “ now so exceedingly common 
in the north of England, seem to have been comparatively 
rare,” though the favourite form of surname in that district 
in the time of Edward I. 
The ethnological evidence of surnames may vary indefi¬ 
nitely in value. In many cases surnames have been spelled 
in a variety of ways by one generation after another till they 
20 ‘ Races of Britain,’ Lond. 1885. 
