Why So Many Smiths?

Well, it’s an interesting story. Back in the Middle Ages, when people first acquired surnames, most of them – in the West at least – lived in small villages. Now, these villages were generally full of tillers of the earth, sons of toil, agriculturists … farmers. 

There was someone, though, who really stood out. And that was the guy who fixed your plow, made your hoe, fashioned your cooking utensils – even made swords and stuff for the lord of the manor. In other words, he was basically the man. Every village had one, and he was pretty darn important to everyone there.

Yeah, you can take your sons of John (“Johnson,” “Jones”), your guys who lived by the village green (“Green”), your guys who had a darker complexion (“Brown”) … Give me a Smith any day!


A Smith by Any Other Name

Now, here’s the fun part about this … You might already know that Smith is a pretty darn popular name in the English-speaking world ... Its equivalents, though, are also pretty popular in other countries as well. I’m talking about being in the top 3 in countries like Germany, Poland, Italy, and Russia. Wow! Read on …


The Germanic Languages

So, this is us. And, sure enough, Smith is #1 in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

What comes up when you Google “smith”

The Germanic languages, though, also include German (duh!), as well as Dutch, Flemish, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. Here’s how Smith shakes out in those places:

Language	Equivalent	Rank	Notes
German	Schmidt	1	Also includes Schmitt, et al.
Dutch	Smit	3	Also includes Smits, de Smet …
Flemish	de Smet	10
Any Scandinavian	Smet	30 in Danish

Why so low in the Scandinavian countries? You’ve got to remember how many patronymics there are there – Johannson, Pedersen, Nillson, Olsen, Larsen …

Surprisingly, that’s exactly what happened in Flemish as well. There, we’ve got Peteers, Janseens, Jacobs, Willes, Martens …


The Celts

Hmm … I don’t recall any Irishmen with names of O’Smith or McSmith. The Gaelic equivalent of that, though – McGowan – actually is fairly common. It’s not exactly Murphy, Kelly, or Sullivan, but it does click in at #5. Now, that number actually includes “Smith” as well. A fair amount of McGowans did, however, take that name.

Rose and friend

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any equivalent in Scotland, Wales, or Cornwall. The Bretons, however, claim the name Goff, which was later taken to England and is known in the eastern part of the country (East Anglia). Think NFL QB Jared.


The Latins

The Latinate languages – i.e., those descended from Latin – are divided into two groups … at least when it comes to Smiths.

In France,  LeFevre (and LeFebvre) comes in 13th and is derived  From the Latin for a  craftsman, faber. All the rest come from the Latin word for iron, ferrum.

Language	Equivalent	Rank	Notes
Italian	Ferrari	2
Portuguese	Ferreira	3
Catalan	Ferrar	31	Jose Ferrar = Joe Smith
Romanian	Feraru		Closest language to Latin
Spanish	Herrara

By the way, Spanish is actually loaded down with patronyms as well - Rodriguez (from Rodrigo), Sanchez (Sancho), Fernandez (Fernando), Lopez (Lope) ...

The Slavs

Interestingly, the Slavs seem to be as fond of this name as anyone out there. Needless to say, it’s not something that most speakers of Germanic and Italianate languages would recognize. It’s amazing how similar they all are. They do, though, all seem to have their own individual endings.

Language	Equivalent	Rank
Serbian	Kovacevich	1
Croat	Kovacevich	1
Polish	Kowalski	3
Russian	Kuznets(ov)	3
Ukranian	Kovalenko	4
Bosnian	Kovacevich	6
Czech	Kovar
Bulgarian	Kovachev
Macedonian	Kovachev
Lithuanian	Kavlaitas
Latvian	Kalejs

 

Basically, the same guy

The Finno-Ugrics

Finno-Ugrics? What the …?

Europe can be divided into three basic language – Germanic, Latinate, and Slavic. Finland and Hungary, however, represent two linguistic islands - related to each other, but with no relationship to the languages surrounding them. Both, in fact, date back to the Barbarian invasions. Their nearest current-day relatives are 1200 miles away, in northern Russia.

Interestingly, however, Hungarian chose to go with the very Slavic Kovacs. The Finns, on the other hand, went with the very un-Smith-like Sepp (and Seppanen). Estonia, the only other Finno-Ugric country went with Sepp as well. Both the Hungarian and Finnish versions come in at third overall in their respective countries.


Middle Eastern

Moving out of Europe, Smith extends somewhat into the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. Nowhere, though, does it have the same prevalence as in Europe.Here's what I could find:

• Greek – Sideris
• Arabic – Haddad
• Armenian – Tarpinian
• Turkish – Demirci
• Persian – Zargar
• Albanian – Nallbani

Just think of him as Dave Smith

Even more interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be any Smiths out there past the Middle East. Not in Africa, not in Asia, not nowhere.



More name stuff:

• What's in a presidential name?
• You named your child what?
• Naming Oliver Twist today
• North Carolina surnames

Animals, People, and Things – How Do Sports Mascots Shake Out?

Well, there sure are a lot of tigers, and bulldogs, and eagles out there. And pirates, and knights, and raiders as well. Heck, there’s even jets, and thunder, and athletics, and browns, and hoyas (whatever those are) too.

Ever wonder how they all shake out? Are there more animals than people? Where do things fit in? And how would you actually characterize a devil, or a phillie, or even a little heat?

Let’s take a gander …


Methodology

The most obvious group to look at are, of course, the four major North American sports leagues. And that’s MLB, along with the NFL, NBA, and NHL.

Everyone else seem to play soccer. Unfortunately, they’re really not all that into mascots. Heck, most of the teams are just known as a city name, plus “FC” or “United” or “Athletic” or even just “City.” And if they do have nicknames, they’re never official. Heck, they’ve usually got several. Manchester City, for example, is known as City, the Citizens, and the Sky Blues.

Given soccer’s out, the next most likely group is colleges. As I don’t have all the time in the world, I thought I’d limit them to Division I – in particular the Football Bowl Subdivision. And to keep the number of pro and college teams somewhat equal, I limited it to just bigger conferences – the SEC, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and PAC 12. Sorry, Mid-American. Sorry, Golden Hurricane.


Results

Overall, animals do rule (68), followed closely by people (62). Things are definitely in the running (28), but really don’t compare to those first two. 

Undefined are actually not that far behind with 18.  These are things that simply don’t seem to have a real-world equivalent outside the team itself. What, for example, is an astro, or a bill, or a hokie, or an aggie?

The two remaining categories both come in at 6. These include mythic creatures/characters-(titans, devils, angels …) and adjectives (athletic, metropolitan, wild …).

Interestingly, there is quite a bit of difference between the pros and the amateurs. To wit, colleges are just slightly over half animals (perhaps reflecting the average student body):

Professional teams, on the other hand, are a lot more balanced, and with a ton of things (particular colors of socks, various means of transportation, weather phenomena, and much more):

Animals

Like I say, these are the most popular. As for particular leagues, the PAC 12 and the SEC are both close to 2/3’s non-human creatures:

(Wondering who those mythic creatures are? Why, sun devils, of course.)

Overall, though there are more than their fair share of tigers, eagles, bears, wildcats, and so on, we also have some odd birds (ravens, penguins, pelicans), unusual rodents (gophers, beavers), and assorted ducks, dogs, and buffalo.


People

Two leagues are half people, the Big 10 (which actually has 14 teams) and the Big 12 (which only has 10):

And Major League Baseball has almost half (37% to be exact).

Overall, people are a lot more unique than animals. In addition to state-wide demonyms (Tar Heels, Jayhawks, Hoosiers, Sooners), there are also some unique occupations (commodores, boilermakers, cornhuskers), as well as various Native Americans, religious figures, and rebels/patriots

Things

Things are not equally distributed. Only 2 leagues, the NBA and the NHL, account for 78% of all things out there:

Why so many things in those two? My guess is that there are a lot more new teams in those leagues. Why go with fusty old animals or people? Let’s do something different! 

Heck, why bother with those silly old plurals. Let’s go with mass, instead of count, nouns. You know, things like Lightning, Thunder, Heat, Magic, and Jazz.


Balance

So, who does that leave? Well, would you believe there was one pro league (the NFL) and one college one (the ACC) that actually had some real balance? Both were almost equally divided between animals and people (14 to 12 for the NFL, and 6 to 5 for the ACC):

Miscellany

Soccer aside, there are actually two foreign leagues that do a pretty good job with mascots. Interestingly, they’re both based on American sports: the Canadian Football League and the Nippon Baseball League. 

The NBL fits in easily with the overall animal theme:

These include standards such as tigers, bears, lions, and hawks, but oddities such as buffaloes, swallows, and carp.

The CFL, on the other hand, is a little more balanced: