Some data from our national collection

By 22 September, more than 958 schools across Australia had reported that their
Reach for the Stars activities for National Literacy and Numeracy Week
2009...

  • involved 154 904 people;
  • counted 811 726 characters in 138 710 names;
  • recorded 149 922 first initials; and
  • examined the frequency distribution of 497 661 letters!

Printable PDF summary and teacher notes

How long are our names?

What initials do we use?

Distribution of letters
used in our names

Palindromes and
alphabetical order

Usage of the letters
A, E, I, O and U

Excel spreadsheet of raw data You might also like to view the pictures contributed to our Gallery and the list of schools which shared data.