214
Notes on the Evidence bearing
counties, people of the Scandinavian type seemed to him to
be common. "The form of the face is broader than in the
South, the cheek bones project a little, the nose is somewhat
flatter, and at times turned a little upwards, the eyes and
hair are of a lighter colour, and even deep-red hair is far
from being uncommon. The people arc not very tall in
stature, but usually more compact and strongly built than
their countrymen towards the south." He adds that in mid-
land and northern England, particularly in the rural districts
of the north, he saw every moment persons whom, had he
met them in Denmark or Norway, he would never have sup-
posed to be foreigners.
Surnames ending in son, such as Wilson, Anderson,
Johnson, the Danish form of which is sen, are especially
common in the north of England. Worsaae states that this
ending is quite peculiar to the countries of Scandinavia,
whence it was brought into England, and that the name
Johnson, so common in England, is also, perhaps, the com-
monest surname in Iceland. But though the evidence derived
from physical characteristics and surnames is enough to show
the largeness of the Scandinavian ingredient in our population
north of the ancient Watling Street, it is likely that the pre-
sent holders of surnames of Scandinavian type are by no
means so exclusively Scandinavian as their names, apart from
any mixture of races since their arrival here. For certain
names, such as John and Thomas, did not come into use in
England till after tho Norman Conquest, and surnames were
unknown here before that period. Dr. Beddoe,26 who has
fully discussed the evidence bearing upon early surnames,
states that in a list of tenants of the Bishopric of Durham,
dating from 1183, patronymics "now so exceedingly common
in the north of England, seem to have been comparatively
rare," though the favourite form of surname in that district
in the time of Edward I.
The ethnological evidence of surnames may vary indefi-
nitely in value. In many cases surnames have been spelled
in a variety of ways by one generation after another till they
26 'Races of Britain,' Lond, 1885.