[Rockhounds] OT: Does anyone know a rockhound named Kreigh around Oakdale...

[Pmodreski at aol.com]

Hi folks,
 
Allow me to try to apply some scientific analysis to the question  of "How 
many rockhounds are there likely to be, with Kreigh's first  name?".
 
A website that is very interesting/amusing to browse is "Baby Name Wizard",  
which depicts nicely programmed graphs showing the frequency of girl's and 
boy's  names in the U.S., broken down into every decade since the 1880s.
_http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager_ 
(http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager) 
 
So my first step was to see if Kreigh's name appears on their list, which  
gives the 1000 most common names.  It does not; but even from this we can  
estimate an upper limit to the frequency of "Kreighs" in the U.S.  Some of  the 
boys' names that rank near the bottom of the most frequent 1000 list, are  shown 
to occur with an average frequency of approximately 50 names per 1 million  
people in the U.S.  So, let's assume that an upper limit for the number of  
"Kreighs" in the U.S. would be 50 per 1 million, or, for a U.S. population of  300 
million, 300 x 50 = less than 15,000 Kreighs.  (It could, of course, be  MUCH 
less, if Kreigh were a really really rare and unusal name.)
 
Next we want to know how many rockhounds there are in the U.S.  Trying  to do 
some web searching for this number, I really could not find it.  I'm  sure 
such an estimated number is know--for example, one could look at the total  
membership of the AFMS affiliated clubs, and I'm sure that number has been  
mentioned in print now and then in AFMS newsletters or elsewhere, but if it  appears 
anywhere on their website, it is well buried and not findable by simple  
searching.  However, I did find one website that notes "there are over 900  
rockhound clubs in the U.S.".  So let's say for round numbers, there are  1000 
clubs, with 100 members each.  The 100 may be an overestimate, but  that will allow 
for all the rockhounds (likely perhaps, an equal number or more)  who don't 
belong to a club.  So let's say for good round numbers, that  there are 1000 x 
100 = 100,000 rockhounds in the U.S.
 
So, if there are an estimated not more than 15,000 Kreighs in the U.S., and  
the probability of a U.S. resident being a rockhound is 100,000 / 300,000,000 
=  1/3000, then there should be an estimated 15,000/3000 = 5 Kreighs in this  
country who are rockhounds.
 
There you go, Kreigh, so, there are 5 of you, and since one of them is  
already you, there are just 4 more (or less, of course).  Shouldn't be that  tough 
a job to find them!  No worse than 4 needles in a haystack?
 
cheers,
Pete  
(P.S., but really, we all know that there is only ONE Kreigh... and surely  
of course, only one Kreigh Tomaszewski  (I didn't look it up... wonder how  
close I got to spelling that right?).  (Ah, now I checked below--I got it  right!)
 
 
 
In a message dated 3/6/2009 7:25:19 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
Kreigh at tomaszewski.net writes:

I got an  unusual inquiry today via my website...

I had a friend,  mentor, named Richard XXXXXXX.
He had a friend named Kreigh,  who was a rockhound. This Kreigh gave
him a oval geode with  fluid inside that was millions of years old.
I was wondering  if you are that friend.
Richard, lived in Oakdale, CA. as I  did. I believe the year was 1996
or 97.
The  spelling of your name is unique, as I hadn't heard of that
spelling until I met Richard's friend for only a few minutes.
Please let me know if you are or aren't Richard's friend.

It wasn't me.  I've never lived in California. But it got me wondering. 
My name is  somewhat unusual. AFMS says there are about 55,000 
rockhounds in the  United States that are members of clubs. The 
membership of this List  approaches 1% of US rockhounds. Would it be 
possible to track down the  rockhound who shares my unusual name?

If you belong to a club in  California, would you please check your club 
roster and see if there is a  Kreigh? Personal contact details should 
probably be shared off-list if you  find the other Kreigh.

Thanks!

Kreigh


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