U.S. Census Bureau News: Profile America Facts for Features: Presidents' Day: Feb. 18, 2013

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Presidents' Day is observed on the third Monday of February. Although many feel Presidents' Day is a time to honor all former U.S. presidents, the federal holiday is actually the official observance of George Washington's birthday (Feb. 22).

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To commemorate Presidents' Day, the Census Bureau has pulled information from its geographic database on the country's 100 most common names of places, minor civil divisions (MCDs) and counties. The following list shows where the last names of various presidents rank on the list (rankings based on "actual name" counts). The "actual name" column is based on the number of places, MCDs and counties with just that name alone. The "total" column includes the "actual name" count plus the count in which the name is found within a longer name (such as "Fort Washington" or "Lincoln Park").

Note: The term "places" refers to both incorporated places and census designated places (CDPs). Names of minor civil divisions (MCDs) are primarily the towns and townships from the 12 strong MCD states of Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. Also, these places were not necessarily named after the president in some cases, since the entities may have been named before the president was in office.

It's also worth noting that ─

--Although never a president, founding father Benjamin Franklin's last name was the second most common name of a place, MCD or county, with 89 of these bearing his actual name.

--Mount Vernon, George Washington's home in Virginia, is tied for 110th place, with 18 places, MCDs and counties across the country having this actual name.

--Also in the top 1,000, based on the number of places, MCDs and counties with the actual name, is Johnson (20), Polk (18), Van Buren (13), Roosevelt (13), Fillmore (10), Buchanan (10), Pierce (nine), McKinley (eight), Carter (eight), Hayes (six), Taft (six), Harding (five), Kennedy (five) and Ford (five).

To access a host of demographic and socio-economic statistics about any of the places with one of these names, see the "QuickFacts" data access tool: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/index.html.

Following is a list of observances typically covered by the Census Bureau's Facts for Features series:

Editor's note: Facts for Features are customarily released about two months before an observance in order to accommodate magazine production timelines. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau's Public Information Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; or e-mail: [email protected].

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau