Surname Variations and Frequencies - all Counties

Mullett is clearly the most dominant form of the name, followed by Mullet. Given that the difference between the two spellings is very slight, there is no reason to consider them to have arisen from independent sources. Much of the variation seen here might be attributable to census enumerators' interpretation of the spoken word. None of the other variations occur in large enough numbers to be considered to be distinct surnames either - they all appear to be variations of the same name.

Surname Variant Distribution Map

Each symbol on the map represents at least one occurrence of the associated name in a particular location - but does not accurately represent population density.

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Distribution by Region (All "Mul" Variants)

For a listing of the counties contained in each region see "Geographic Regions" on the main 1851 census page. As with all of the other surname variants, the South East region was home to a great many Mulletts, but for reasons stated elsewhere, this region should not be considered to be an ancestral base for the name.

There were 3 very obvious population centres for "Mullett" variants in 1851: Dorset Suffolk Worcester/Staffordshire As stated elsewhere, a convincing argument can be made that since Dorset and Suffolk are in the heart of "Mallett" territory, it is very likely that at least some of these Mulletts derive from the surname Malet. The second largest concentration (after Dorset) of Mulletts in 1851 was in the twin cities of Dudley and Kingswinford (both in Staffordshire in 1851). Since there is no significant presence of the Mallett name in this area, it seems much less likely that these Mulletts derive from the surname Malet, unless they migrated there from somewhere else. Their very large numbers, however, suggest that they had been in the area for many generations, so derivation from Malet seems unlikely.

Surname Distribution by County

The following table shows the most common surname variations in the counties where they were found in the largest numbers. The total at the right hand side, however, represents the total number of all surname variations found in the corresponding county - not just the most common ones (some are not shown for want of space).

Flood Fill Map

This map gives a clear visual indication of which counties were home to the largest number of people with all surname variants in 1851. Only the most populous counties are identified by name.

Dot Distribution Map

Each dot on the map represents at least 1 person. The larger the dot, the larger the population at that place.

Some large population centres of note: Buckland Newton, Sherborne, Cheselbourne, amd Shaftesbury (Dorset) Ipswich, Barking, and Willisham (Suffolk) Kingswinford, and Rowley Regis (Staffordshire) Dudley (Worcester) High Wickham (Buckinghamshire)

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2. Maps produced using GenMap UK, from Archer Software.