February 5th, 2009

So here's an idea for a visualization: create an entertaining way to see which surnames are abundant and which are scant. By looking at the total number of deaths and births on record per surname, the total number of people living with that particular surname can be deduced. These results could be displayed in an interactive application as bubbles of different sizes and colors where clicking on a given bubble will show a more detailed view of the surname, including birth and death numbers as well as its relative ranking. I think it'd work, self importance can go a long way.