Family name distributions: Master equation approach

Abstract

Although cumulative family name distributions in many countries exhibit power-law forms, there also exist counterexamples. The origin of different family name distributions across countries is discussed analytically in the framework of a population dynamics model. Combined with empirical observations made, it is suggested that those differences in distributions are closely related with the rate of appearance of new family names.

7 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (5)

• Power laws, Pareto distributions and Zipf's law
• Classes of behavior of small-world networks
• Vertical transmission of culture and the distribution of family names
• Power-law Distribution of Family Names in Japanese Societies
• Distribution of Korean Family Names

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