The surnames of the 3443 males registered to vote in Kidlington in 1977 yield a Coefficient of Relationship by Isonymy of 0·000564 {Ri=Σ(n(n–1))/2 N(N–1), in which n=the number of men of each surname and N=Σn}. Those of the four wards separately average 0·000722. However, if one includes only one male of any one surname in each residence, the values are, respectively, 0·000534 and 0·000535. That is, the only structure seen between the two levels is in the influence of men of the same surname resident in the same house. An analysis of relationship by residence on the same street yields a value of Ri somewhat higher than that for the ward as a whole, however, suggesting that even within a ward there may be a tendency for the house of relatives occasionally to lie close together.
Use of surname analysis in human population biology depends on surnames being inherited like genes. In societies that meet this condition, communities with a few surnames at high frequency are the more inbred ones, and marriages between persons of the same surname can be used to estimate rates of inbreeding. Furthermore, the degree of commonality of the surnames of two communities estimates their biological relationship provided that any two persons of the same surname derived it from a common ancestor and that virilocal and uxorilocal migration is equal. Although the assumptions are only partially met, the surname method yields results which correlate with the amount of marital migration and with geographical and historical features. Rare surnames meet the assumptions better than common ones. Documents, both old and new, yield surnames of large numbers of people which can easily be analyzed to show the cumulative effect of marital migration since the establishment of surnames (in England in the Middle Ages). Surnames thus serve to delineate the breeding structure of some human populations over a longer span of time than is usually possible with pedigrees, over a more definite span of time than in genetic studies, and more easily in broad surveys than alternative methods. [isonymy, surnames, inbreeding, coefficient of relationship, England]
Physical anthropology consists of two interdependent types of study: (1) the biological history of man and (2) general biological processes in man (such as mechanisms of evolution and growth). Popular interest may focus on the former, the fascinating story of the origin of man and of specific people, but the latter affords physical anthropology potential practical value in respect to medicine, dentistry, public health, and population policy. The study of general processes is the study of human beings in particular situations, not for what we can learn about these particular populations but for the sake of generalization about mankind anywhere in comparable situations. This is, of course, the purpose of experimental science in general, but in anthropology the method is usually comparative. Long ago the study of the growth of the two sexes and of children in different countries was started on a comparative basis as was the study of the so‐called secular change in adult stature. By 1911 Franz Boas had compared the changes in stature and head form of children of several different immigrant groups in the United States. There have since been comparative studies of the amount and distribution of body fat (but not yet adequate comparative measurements of the relation of tissue components to diet and to diseases). Demographic patterns, inbreeding, outbreeding, and their effects are other general problems. The Human Adaptability Project of the International Biological Program promises studies of human response to heat, cold, altitude, and other conditions on a wide international basis. If supported, these could turn physical anthropology's search in a useful direction. The functional biology of people of even out‐of‐the‐way communities will be compared with each other. These studies can yield general statements concerning human response to types of ecological situation including such sociocultural conditions as those of hunting‐gathering tribes and urban slums.
SummaryUsing lists of names of male personal telephone subscribers, isonymy was calculated within and between 29 contiguous areas in a north-to-south line extending 210 km south of Grindsted, Denmark. Each area shared some surname(s) with every other area. Isonymy was high across both the present and past borders of Denmark with Germany and was consistently lower in areas beyond 160 km south of Grindsted. Relative isonymy between areas was also smaller on average south of the present border than north of it, and smaller still for pairs of areas spanning the border. This is partly accounted for by decreases in isonymy with distance, but the slope of the logistic regression on distance is greater for the northern moiety than the southern one. Most of these findings can be traced to the influence of common surnames ending in 'sen', the distribution of which tends to correlate highly with isonymy. Such surnames tend to be of recent origin and to be very frequent and hence highly polygenic. Thus much of the heterogeneity is explained by surname history rather than genetic heterogeneity.
SummaryAnalysis of a further four samples of first names in the index of marriages registered in England and Wales in the first 3 months of 1975 support the claim that there is no significant difference of 'between' versus 'within' registration district Ri. Since given names show none of the localisation seen in surnames, the surname geography is ascribable to genetic rather than cultural factors of personal naming. The correct formulations for coefficient of relationship by isonymy are given.
SummaryStudies of parent–child correlations in stature require data which can be viewed as random samples of some general population and which are large enough to allow partition of the variable and evaluation of non-genetic and genetic influences. In a sample of 4336 individuals drawn from a cohort of all persons born in England, Scotland and Wales in 1 week in 1958, the correlation of statures of the males with their fathers, the females with their fathers, the males with their mothers and the females with their mothers were 0·36, 0·43 and 0·41 and 0·47 respectively at age 16 of the offspring and 0·41, 0·41, 0·47 and 0·46 respectively at age 23. Allowance for the occupational social class of the fathers lowers the correlations, but in no case by more than 5%. Allowance for the occupational class achieved by the offspring by age 23 has little effect on the correlations.
SummaryThe relationship between anthropometrics and three measures of Darwinian fitness—number of surviving children, number of living siblings and marital status—was sought in a population practising no contraception. The pattern suggestive of stabilizing selection was evident for one dimension, destabilizing selection for another dimension, and directional selection for yet another. The dimensions studied were those least intercorrelated one with another. Stabilizing selection for human physical characteristics may not be a universal phenomenon.
