The Curious Case of Alvin Greene

[ilikeverin]

In the 1930 census, I have "Green" being 66.0% white, while "Greene" is 79.3% white.  Obviously, there are big caveats on this (namely, that the census had names written down by enumerators, who often didn't ask for spellings of names... woe upon those who were illiterate ), but... at least it's data rather than anecdote.

[ilikeverin]

Oh, I wasn't doing the "can has sources" thing as a slight against anyone in the thread, I was just annoyed by a lot of the airheaded punditry being spouted on the news.  I didn't even know the census bureau had current statistics on last names and race.  ¡Sorpresa!

[ilikeverin]

In the 1930 census, I have "Green" being 66.0% white, while "Greene" is 79.3% white.  Obviously, there are big caveats on this (namely, that the census had names written down by enumerators, who often didn't ask for spellings of names... woe upon those who were illiterate ), but... at least it's data rather than anecdote.

Is this for South Carolina or the US?

There could be big regional differences.  If there is a large slave plantation like you had in South Carolina, then it would be like some Mormon polygamist with dozens of "children" who have his surname.

I think that Greene would be a favored spelling in South Carolina (and perhaps much of the US, because of Nathanael Greene, who was head of American forces in the south during the Revolution.

There are counties named for Greene in NY, PA, VA, NC, GA, AL, MS, AR, TN, KY, OH, IN, IL, WI, MO, and IA.  Practically every state that had any counties to be named after someone, up through about the mid 19th century named a county for him.  Greenville, South Carolina and Greensboro, NC are both named for him.

So if you weren't sure how your name was spelled, you might be more likely to choose Greene, if that is the way it was spelled in your history books.

Nice hypothesis, but...

White Greens: 571
Black Greens: 2308
White Greenes: 139
Black Greenes: 176

(in 1930.  caveats apply)

"Greene", in general, is a much less common last name than "Green".