Welsh Journals

A STATISTICAL COMPARISON OF THE PRINCIPAL SURNAMES IN USE IN PENARTH, 1881, WITH THOSE IN USE IN ABERYSTWYTH, 1871 This study is based on the figures obtained from the author's trans- cripts of the population censuses derived from the micro-films supplied by the Public Record Office, London. Although the comparison is made between the 1871 Census for Aberystwyth and the 1881 Census for Penarth, this was done mainly because the populations of the two towns were then roughly equal. In these years both places were active seaports which they no longer are. I give below tables showing the principal surnames in use in the two towns as revealed in the relative census studies. The figures quoted against each name are the numbers of entries recorded against them; the percentages given relate to the rate per hundred of the total popu- lation. Aberystwyth 1871 [Population 6,695] i. Jones. 1,059 [15.8%] 2. Davies 47617.1%] 3. Evans. 421 4. Williams. 379 5. Morgan/s. 243 6. Jenkins. 242 7. Edwards. 238 8. Thomas. 211 9. Lewis. 184 10. Hughes. 182 11. James. 156 12. Roberts 152 It is interesting to note how much more weight' is given to each of the twelve principal surnames in the Aberystwyth record, as compared with Penarth. In the Aberystwyth case it will be seen that the total number of entries amounted to 58.9% of the whole population. In the Penarth case, the total represented only 16.9% of the population. The reason for this striking difference is that there was a much wider range of surnames in use by Penarth inhabitants than by those in Total 3,943 [58.9%] Penarth 1881 Population 6,257] 1. Jones. 162 [2.6%] 2. Thomas. 161 3. Williams. 147 4. Evans. 99 5. James. 79 6. Davies. 75 [1.2%] 7. Jenkins/Richards..65 8. Mathews/ Matthews. 59 9. John/s/ Johnson.57 10. Rees 55 11. Harris. 53 12. White. 46 1,058 [16.9%] Note Jenkins and Richards held jointly the seventh position in the Penarth table.