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#22911 03/19/01 02:11 PM
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On an aside, and meaning no disrepect to anybody, would you call a short man who had the surname Martin a martinet?

Well, at least you didn't suggest that he flies around your house catching insects. There is a bird of that name, after all.


#22912 03/19/01 03:32 PM
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Dear Geoff: I was surprised to find that "martinet" is actually an eponym:

mar[ti[net 7m9rt#‘n et$, m9rt4‘n et#8
n.
5after Gen. Jean Martinet, 17th-c. Fr drillmaster6
1 a very strict military disciplinarian
2 any very strict disciplinarian or stickler for rigid regulations



#22913 03/19/01 05:19 PM
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You'll find chauvanist has an interesting history too.
Nicolas Chauvin
wow


#22914 03/19/01 06:58 PM
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I think Johnson heads the list--if you include varients-- jonson, johnsen, etc.

an other post suggested checking census data-- but in US, most of the lists came from US Army-- especially during WWII when a broad spectrum of US population was enlisted. Miller was up there too, (again, with varients. mueller, etc) I think it too was above Smith--

the most common italian name (in NYC) is Russo -- the italian "smith" of NY.

According to US Army/WWII records-- griffin is #100 in the list of family names.


#22915 03/19/01 07:11 PM
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Whoa, Max, not around here! I never heard of a single
Quordlepleen (or a married one, either) in all of Louisville.


Aah, that's because the family changed the spelling when they got close to the Mason-Dixon line. Round your way, my relatives go by the name "Y'alldepleen"



#22916 03/19/01 09:26 PM
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Davis is a very common last name as well. It's of Welsh origin and I don't really see how it spread so much. Wales isn't very big.


#22917 03/19/01 09:52 PM
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Surprising that there aren't more Farmers than Smiths. It must have taken a couple dozen farmers to support one smith.


#22918 03/19/01 09:58 PM
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Well, jazz, sometimes its luck, or healthy genes--My ex can trace his family back to the mayflower--

One of his forefathers married a woman who came over on the mayflower as a child.. the forefathers name was long and hard to pronounce-- so it got changed in the 1640's to Sias-- all the Sias's in the US and Cananda are related to this man-- and there are thousands! (several book have been written-- "the Sias's in America" has several volumes! In my husbands branch-- His great grand father-- was a hard scabble NE farmer-- went to serve in Civil War-- was wounded, and served time in Andersonville prison-- survived that, return to northern NE-- North of Mount Washington-- at the time the northern most town in NH-- where he lived another 50 years-- and father 7 more children-- (for a total, i think of 13-- 12 of whom survived to adulthood! )

Them are good healthy genes! This was not a rich man-- and the climate he lived in made it hard to grow enough food to survive-- but he did, and his kids did-- and going back in history, you see he was typical for his family-- in most generation, more than 50%-- sometime 75% or more of the children survived to adulthood-- in large families of 10 to 13-- this makes a big difference!

The Sias's are strong--(His grandmother lived to 103!) So it wouldn't take anything much but a one or two strong Davis males-- marrying some strong women (or going through two or three wifes!) to have a large family-- and soon creating a large population with the same name!


#22919 03/20/01 07:41 AM
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Surprising that there aren't more Farmers than Smiths. It must have taken a couple dozen farmers to support one smith.

Perhaps the Farmers just weren't as efficient at spreading their seed as the Smiths!

[Ducking from the gutter police emoticon]
["Oooo, 'ullo, Jackie! Wot you doin' 'ere?" emoticon]
["Everybody gotta be somewhere" emoticon]



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#22920 03/20/01 10:17 AM
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It's of Welsh origin

I think that may be mistaken, Jazzo – the Anglo-Welsh form is Davies (Anglicised orthography of Dafydd, pronounced Da-veeth); I think Davis is of Jewish origin.



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