THE RICHEST OF THE RICH

BY DAN MILLER
9-26-06

I always look forward to seeing the Forbes list of the 400 richest folks.

It's my way of trying to find new friends.

This year.... I'm sure you've heard.... all 400 of the elite are billionaires (with a "b").
These days a mere, humble millionaire is much like the rest of us, worried about gas prices and the cost of a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

So I started wondering.... how many of these 400 billionaires are from Tennessee, compared to the number from my home state of Georgia?
So I looked it up.
It's a tie.... 4 from Tennessee.... 4 from Georgia.

Hmmmm... wonder how many are from my wife Karen's home state of Mississippi?
I looked that up...... the answer, 0.
(I probably won't mention that to her.)

So which are the most common first names on the list?
To find out.... I added up the top 10 (quick counting -- I could have missed one or two!)

#1... John.... there are 20 Johns on the list.
#2... William.... 17.
#3... Robert.... 16.
#4... (tie) James & David.... 13 each.
#5... Stephen (Steve).... 12.
#6... (3-way tie) Charles, George & Richard.... 9 each.
#7... Thomas.... 8.

So -- as any married guy is apt to do -- I wondered how many Dans are on the list versus the number of Karens?
As for Dan (or Daniel).... there are 5 on the list.
Karens?..... sorry, there's only one.

But that shouldn't make Karen, or anybody named Karen, feel slighted.... after all, there's only one person named Oprah on the list as well.

_________________________________________