such as Elliot (the pet name of Ellis), Eliot, Elliotson, Ellice, Ellicot (the pet form of Ellice), Ellison, Elkins, Elkinson, Elcock, Ell, Else, Elson, and a dozen other dresses in which the name is arrayed, all of which I shall explain hereafter, we have no less than 370 representatives of Elias. That the Crusades brought “John” and “Elias” into favour in England is easily proved, and I shall have a word to say about the matter in another chapter. There are a hundred interesting remarks to make about such names as these, if one allowed oneself to be tempted out of the beaten track, but I control myself. Notice lastly, that under “D” one-tenth of the names are foreign—that is, of recent importation from the Continent. The explanation of such a large proportion is that very many foreign local surnames preserve the “de,” or “del,” or “de la,” as a prefix. “De Jersey,” “De Grelle,” “Delattre,” “Delcroix,” “Delavanti;”so they run. In concluding this chapter, the question may be asked—and a very important one it is—how many differently spelled names, counting a single spelling as one, are there in each class? The answer to this will show the vast predominance of local names in our Directories. If we exclude foreign (nearly all local) and doubtful (of which three-fifths must be looked upon as local), then the local class under A, B, C, D, and E, is double all the rest. We may prejudge that this ratio applies to the whole alphabet. Local. Baptismal. Occupation. Official. Nickname. Foreign. Doubtful. Total. A 153 120 9 8 4 101 41 436 B 917 158 86 43 120 307 176 1807 C 952 168 100 48 122 231 173 1794 D 310 174 17 6 40 336 75 958 E 255 149 0 2 13 92 29 540 Total 2587 769 212 107 299 1067 494 5535 Thus the total number of distinct surnames in the London Directory under the first five letters is 5535. Omitting foreign and doubtful, the local class are double the rest. Therefore the rhyme quoted by Camden is true, that “In ‘ford,’ in ‘ham,’ in ‘ley,’ and ‘ton,’ The most of English surnames run.” All names with this termination are local, and comprise a large proportion of our national nomenclature.