Surname Frequency and Stamp Collectors
R. D. Roberts · Names · 1955
Av POPULAR BOOK about surnames for the American reader should deal with those most familiar to him.That is, it should con• cern the surnames most common in the United States.The author of 'such a book needs to ascertain which are the most commonAmer• ican surnames and he should make an effort to determine the mean• ings and origins of as many of them ~s he can.The basis, then, for a book of this kind must be a representative sampling of American surnames.The requirement that the sample be representative is not easily met.An American of a particular national origin is more likely to favor certain trades, religious sects, and clubs or fraternal orders than others.He is more likely to set up his home in some parts of the country than others.It is likely, therefore, that any occupational, religious, fraternal, or regional list of names will be biased in favor of names from one or two languages.For these reasons, any list in private hands is likely to fall short of the ideal in some degree.We may presume, ho,vever, that the customer list of a mail order house-if the firm handles merchandise of general appeal, and the customers were obtained through national advertising-forms a representative sample of the American population.It is on this presumption that I have compiled the accompanying table.It is to be the foundation of the books about American sur• names which I have in progress.It results from the tabulation of the names of 52,952 persons, living in the United States and its territories, who made purchases from my mail order business (R.D. Roberts & Co., postage stamp dealers and importers) during the years 1938 through 1943.They were obtained almost entirely through advertising in publications of national circulation.The