You mentioned that your name is common, and reminded me reading about the frequency of certain Chinese surnames. So I looked up this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w

You mentioned that your name is common, and reminded me reading about the frequency of certain Chinese surnames. So I looked up this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames I'm making an assumption that your ancestry is Chinese, I believe it is even more popular in Taiwan. Apparently, according to a summary of the 2007 census there were 7 surnames which were shared by over 20 million people, of which one of them was "Chen". For a comparison, the article also mentions that the most common surname in the USA, "Smith", is occupied by 2.4 million people. Let's look at some population estimates: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population China is estimated to have 1,360,720,000 people, whereas the USA is estimated to have 317,559,000. The first article states that the frequency of "Smith" is about 0.84%. A quick calculation on the old python interpreter gave the frequency of "Chen" as roughly 1.47%. What surprised me reading those two articles is that the USA is the third largest country by population. I though I'd look to see if my surname, "Tucker" (no prizes for guessing which expletive it rhymes with) was popular in the UK. I first looked at this: http://www.dolltoy.com/uk2.html http://www.dolltoy.com/uk2.html ... Listing the 50 most popular surnames. I didn't find it, but the list has a column titled "Associated Town" (I was not aware of this convention). At the bottom of the list is "Davis", which is associated with the town of Gloucester, my home town. I'll have to look a bit harder for its actual frequency, it is also used as a first name for both boys and girls. My first name is "Robert", which can also be used as a surname if appended with an 's'. I could have been called "Robert Roberts", or "Tucker Tucker". Reminds me of Rik Mayall's character "Richard Richard" off that vile comedy "Bottom", while co-star Ade Edmonson's character had the charming name of "Eddie Hitler". Come to think of it, what's the etymology and frequency of "Hitler"? ....