U.S. Census Reports and more recently, Telephone Directories, provide valuable information on the distribution of thousands of surnames within the United States.  When searching the census records and telephone directories for all the various spellings of the Naesmyth surname, only the spellings of NeSmith/Nesmith and NesSmith/Nessmith were found listed.   (Note - various capitalizations are not recorded)

The source of this data is the 1850 Census, 1880 Census, 1920 Census, and 1990's telephone directories.  (Note - the Census data is a sampling of 1 in 100 names, so the 1990 data is the most accurate.

For this census only the 'NeSmith/Nesmith' variation was found.  At this time it can be seen that the greatest concentration of NeSmith/Nesmith's occurred in the State of South Carolina with about 1 in every 500 people being a NeSmith/Nesmith.

Again, a search of the 1880 census records only produced the 'Nesmith' spelling variation.   The migration of Nesmith's can now be seen as they remove from South Carolina to Georgia, Arkansas and Iowa.  Each state having about 1 Nesmith out of every 1,000 people.

Curiously, the 'NeSmith/Nesmith' variation disappears in the 1920 census records and the 'NesSmith/Nessmith' appears for the first time.  Even more curious is that each state then in 1920, has only about 1 'NesSmith/Nessmith' out of every 10,000 people.  This data would tend to make one believe that it is inaccurate.

The 1990 'Telephone Directories' once again reveal the spelling variation of 'NeSmith/Nesmith'.   The population density still indicates the highest concentration to be in the south.

Also in the 1990 'Telephone Directories' we find the 'NesSmith/Nessmith' variation.  But still in relatively low densities.  Again, the State of Georgia shows the greatest numbers.  This data indicates that, per capita, Naesmyth Descendants are becoming fewer and fewer.

The above maps and information was obtained from Hamrick Software and is copyrighted 1999.  With all rights reserved.