Update – as Oxa points out in the comments, I seem to have been reading the map wrong. Just because a map shows no persons living in Utah by the name of Meitzler doesn’t necessarily mean that no Meitzler’s were picked up in the distribution. As he also points out, “innumeracy still prevails in this country.” Yep – I can agree there. Numbers never were my thing… And I agree with him that the surname distribution maps for Germany, found at GeoGen, are excellent. I’ve recommended them in the past.
Randy recommended we do a surname distribution on our name last night. The name Meitzler is relatively uncommon – only found in Germany and America with a few in Zurich, Switzerland. Overall, I’m pretty much in agreement with the result I find with this type of search. Although I had not used the Public Profiler before, I find it useful and as good as any surname distribution mapper online. These things have limitations, in that they use public directories to gather and compile the data. Note that no Meitzlers show up in Utah – although there are a number of other Meitzler families living here beside Patty and I. The USA map shows that there are more Meitzlers in Pennsylvania and Louisiana than any other states. That makes sense to me, as that’s where Meitzler immigrants settled many years ago, and families have grow up and multiplied in those areas. My Meitzler immigrant came into New York – with many of the descendants in Washington State today. I still have a cousin living in Rochester, but the map shows no Meitzlers at all in New York. Accuracy is not found in surname distribution, but they are interesting.
Following are screen shots of the Meitzler surname distribution:
“The USA map shows that there are more Meitzlers in Pennsylvania and Louisiana than any other states.” NO, it doesn’t show that. It shows that the ratio of Meitzlers to the population is higher in Pennsylvania and Louisiana than in other states.
“Note that no Meitzlers show up in Utah.” Again, you’re reading the map wrong. White means that the proportion of Meitzlers to the population is LOW, not that it is non-existent.
I guess innumeracy still prevails in this country.
Better maps for German surname distribution can be found at Geogen:
http://christoph.stoepel.net/geogen/en/
They’re based on the German phone book. There you can see the difference between a relative distribution and an absolute distribution of a surname.
The Meitzler distribution post and the replies are both interesting. And both would do little good for me in at least one line: Sebastian. There were two distinct Sebastian groups in KY in 1856. One was English having entered KY the mountain route before 1800 as many families did. The second group were Bavarians, who took boats from Germany to maybe New Orleans. So no matter what the distribution, I would have to find to which group the Sebastians belonged. It would do me no good to find English Sebastians in a state unless I also knew they were Bavarian-descended. Oxa’s comment may provide more help in my case.