The country with the most Hitlers? Or where to find the most Obamas?

by Scott Carmichael on

The World Names Profiler is a web site where you can search for the popularity of surnames sorted by country, region and even by city.

The service currently covers 26 different countries and was developed by geographers at University College in London. The data was mined from telephone directories and national electoral registries. In total, the site holds over 8 million different surnames.

Despite the serious nature of the data, I actually had a blast playing around with it for about 15 minutes. Some of the more “interesting” facts I discovered are:

  • Japan has the highest concentration of people called “Obama”
  • 59.13 people per million are called McCain in the United States
  • Australia has the most Smiths of any country in the world
  • There are 10 people in New Zealand with “Nazi” as their surname
  • Mequon, Wisconsin is home to several members of the Hitler family
  • Spain is home to 3.67 people per million called Penis
  • White is the most popular colored surname, with 3304 per million, in Australia
  • And best of all….2.15 people per million have Gadling as their surname (in India)

Now it’s your turn! How popular is your name, or can you find any other hilarious surnames from around the globe?

AIDS Memorial Quilt: 20 years later

by Jamie Rhein on

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. A friend of mine lost a dear friend to AIDS this year. So did my cousin. I don’t know if someone has made a quilt panel for either of them, but panels continue to be made each year and added to this body of work. Perhaps, in your travels you will come across a section of the quilt. Although the quilt is too large to be displayed in any one place, sections of it are sent to various locations so they can be viewed by the public. Some displays may include only a few panels, while others are enormous.

With World AIDS Day tomorrow, here is a tribute thanks to a YouTube video by David Viney Birmingham that presents a brief history of the Names Project and a montage of various panels.