The lists given below, which do not give all the variant spellings , are based on a diverse vange of information sources.They include British parish registers, probably the most importand source of early names. Modern names can be traced through the yearly indexes of the various birth registry offices. A popular source is the birth announcement columns published by national newspaper (though inevitably these lists are socioeconomically biased).And name specialists have carried out many surveys of their own ,such as compiling lists of students at various universities in English-speaking parts of the world. One unpublished survey, by C.V.Appleton, takes as its scope every first name used by the smiths of England and wales since 1837.