The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20050330030604/http://www.census.gov:80/genealogy/names/names_files.html
U.S. Census Bureau

Name Files

NOTE: No specific individual information is given.

       Name                Last modified   Size

   
[TXT] dist.all.last 09-May-95 23:19 2M [TXT] dist.female.first 29-Sep-94 12:23 146K [TXT] dist.male.first 29-Sep-94 12:23 41K

Each of the three files, (dist.all.last), (dist. male.first), and (dist female.first) contain four items of data. The four items are:

  1. A "Name"
  2. Frequency in percent
  3. Cumulative Frequency in percent
  4. Rank

In the file (dist.all.last) one entry appears as:

        MOORE       0.312       5.312       9

In our Search Area sample, MOORE ranks 9th in terms of frequency. 5.312 percent of the sample population is covered by MOORE and the 8 names occurring more frequently than MOORE. The surname, MOORE, is possessed by 0.312 percent of our population sample.

Detailed Methodology

---------------------------------------
Variables in Names Files:
  name
  freq = Frequency in percent  
  cum.freq = Cumulative Frequency in percent
  rank
---------------------------------------
First ten entries in dist.all.last
---------------------------------------
name           freq   cum.freq  rank
SMITH          1.006  1.006      1
JOHNSON        0.810  1.816      2
WILLIAMS       0.699  2.515      3
JONES          0.621  3.136      4
BROWN          0.621  3.757      5
DAVIS          0.480  4.237      6
MILLER         0.424  4.660      7
WILSON         0.339  5.000      8
MOORE          0.312  5.312      9
TAYLOR         0.311  5.623     10
---------------------------------------
First ten entries in dist.female.first
---------------------------------------
name           freq   cum.freq  rank
MARY           2.629  2.629      1
PATRICIA       1.073  3.702      2
LINDA          1.035  4.736      3
BARBARA        0.980  5.716      4
ELIZABETH      0.937  6.653      5
JENNIFER       0.932  7.586      6
MARIA          0.828  8.414      7
SUSAN          0.794  9.209      8
MARGARET       0.768  9.976      9
DOROTHY        0.727 10.703     10
---------------------------------------
First ten entries in dist.male.first
---------------------------------------
name           freq   cum.freq  rank
JAMES          3.318  3.318      1
JOHN           3.271  6.589      2
ROBERT         3.143  9.732      3
MICHAEL        2.629 12.361      4
WILLIAM        2.451 14.812      5
DAVID          2.363 17.176      6
RICHARD        1.703 18.878      7
CHARLES        1.523 20.401      8
JOSEPH         1.404 21.805      9
THOMAS         1.380 23.185     10