"J b" <johnbrene@hotmail.com> schrieb:
Interesting web find HPA. I located it at:
Geogen Deutschland (Onlinedienst) - christoph.stoepel.net
As you say, this is useful for statistical surname assessments (name
frequency based on telephone listings in Germany) to include maps and graphs
for each find, plus general pointers as to where one might concentrate
further with their family name searches.
Hopefully the site is primed for an assault from foreign shores (I noticed
it became 'unavailable' for a brief bit). If it goes down one could try back
a little later, as the Geogen server may get hammered into temporary
unconsciousness (shellshock) from the collective stampede as word spreads.
lol
I forgot to tell, it is all just work and product of one lonely people, who managed to work out this statistical complicated programm. So everything depends probably from his capacities his is able to finance.
The scientifically and family-research progress can be illustrated by one name: WESTPHAL If you take the absolute spread in Germany there are no special hints at all, they are every-where in a similarely concentration. Things change if you look on the map of relative spread, means the percentage of Westphal in comparision to the local population. Now you see concen-trations in Schleswig Holstein and Mecklenburg and a bit in the South of Lower-Sax-ny.
How that, one may ask ? The explanantion: First: When last names were build, there was no sense for a man in Westphalia to name him WESTPHAL. That would give no distinction as all men in Westphalia were from Westphalia. So those where named WESTPHAL, who were in contrary to the rest surrounding people from this other countryside Westphalia.Menas only men outside Westphalia achieved this name WESTPHAL. Next: there was a battle in 1226 by Bornhöved, where the the Danish King was defeated. By that followed a possibility to conquer parts of Schleswig-Holstein and and Mecklenburg and put own people on the farms and the land. These were taken from Westphalia. And you see, that is what was to be proved. Still today about almost 800 years lateron, you can state by the actual spread of names this early developement by the relatively overproportional WESTPHALS in this conquered regions. Well, just science!
Like in every statistics, you have to take a minimum of cases for being able to count up the bigger whole. We all know this principe from elections. If there are a hundred entries, name statistics work already very well, below he, Mr. Stoepel, is prudent enough to tell you about the greater influence of accidantalness.
It does not show the one king way to the researched anchestors birth date, but it is the best mean for name based research for locating at least the region for ones research. by the way there shall be already similar programs for France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Best wishes for the new week
Hans Peter Albers, Bienenbüttel