Well I got some new software from Santa- Genmap & Surname Atlas. And I've been playing.

The Surname Atlas lets you analyse by surname and forename how names vary by county and district. I've looked  at the Needham's and it's what you'd expect:

 

The counties with the largest numb run NW to SE from Lancs to Lincolnshire.


There are 10 counties with more than 100 Needham's living there, with the top two counties having over 1000 Needham's in residence. The highest number of Needham's in a county occurs in Lancashire which has nearly 12% more Needham's than second placed Yorkshire and over 35% more than Derbyshire, the country where the Needham's originated.

County	County Popn.	Actual No.
Lancashire	3448165	1273
Yorkshire W.Riding	2175852	1123
Derbyshire	456652	802
Lincolnshire	462960	568
Leicestershire	323089	452
Nottinghamshire	393238	367
Middlesex	2861231	323
Cheshire	640667	295
Staffordshire	983336	158
Kent	968915	125

However, if we look at the density of Needham's in a county, Lancashire and Yorkshire drop to 8th and 6th respectively because they have high populations, while smaller Derbyshire rises one place to second. The county with the highest density is Rutland followed by Derbyshire with Leicestershire third.

County	County Popn.	Actual No.	per 100,000
Rutland	21417	60	280
Derbyshire	456652	802	176
Leicestershire	323089	452	140
Lincolnshire	462960	568	123
Nottinghamshire	393238	367	93
Yorkshire W.Riding	2175852	1123	52
Cheshire	640667	295	46
Lancashire	3448165	1273	37
Flintshire	78829	29	37
Yorkshire E.Riding	312344	84	27

  





A similar pattern occurs when the numbers of Needham's in the 1881 census returns are analysed by Districts; ref 4. There are 10 districts with over 100 Needham's.

District Name	Dist. Popn.	Actual No.
Oldham	168495	417
Ecclesall Bierlow	114474	277
Sheffield	183076	242
Chesterfield	98611	233
Bakewell	30552	173
Nottingham	159120	172
Stockport	117161	154
Ashton under Lyne	154572	132
Chorlton	257835	116
Barrow upon Soar	28884	110

Not surprisingly the district distribution follows a similar pattern to that of the counties

The district with the highest incidence of Needham's is Oldham in Lancashire where there are 417. This is 34% higher than second placed Ecclesall Bierlow and 41% higher than third placed Sheffield both of which are in West Yorkshire. All three of these districts are in large industrial towns with populations of over 100k people. So when you look at density of Needham's Bakewell in Derbyshire is top followed by Oakham in Rutland and Chapel en le Frith which like bakewell is in Derbyshire. All three of these districts have fewer than 31k people living in then. Oldham which has the highest number of Needham's drops to 11 when you look at density, Ecclesall Bierlow is 12th and Sheffield is outside the top 20!
 

District Name	Dist. Popn.	Actual No.	per 100,000
Bakewell	30552	173	566
Oakham	10978	59	537
Chapel en le Frith	19490	94	482
Barrow upon Soar	28884	110	381
Thorne	16051	54	336
East Retford	23275	76	327
Gainsborough	29956	90	300
Spilsby	27906	82	294
Loughborough	27900	80	287
Blaby	21878	55	251
Oldham	168495	417	247
Ecclesall Bierlow	114474	277	242
Chesterfield	98611	233	236
Leek	31219	64	205

I'e also looked at the baptism distributions based on those I could find on Ancestry between 1600 & 1630; this is based on the work of Gary Anesty. The earliest comprehensive data available comes from parish registers. But care needs to be taken as not all parishes are on line some of the registers are damaged and difficult to read. None the less some idea of the early distribution of Needhams can be gained by looking at baptism data. The earliest data that is reasonably comprehensive is in the period 1600 to 1630. This is about one generation of Needham's.

If we look at the distribution by county then Derbyshire and Lincolnshire have the highest number of Needham's outside London followed by Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire:
       

Area	No.
London	112
Derby	81
Lincs	62
Herts	39
Notts	34
Leics	23
Cheshire	14
Staffs	11
Shrop	10
Kent	10
Lancs	5
Northamp	5
Yorks	4
Bedford	3
Warwicks	3
Bucks	3
Oxford	2
Norfolk	2
Rutland	1
Total	424

If we look at the parishes where the Needhams were born a familiar picture emerges:

 

The parish with the largest baptisms of Needham's is Hartington which has double the number of the second placed parish, Baslow. These two parishes are adjacent to each other with Hartington being the parish where the Needham's originated at High Needham. Third equal are three parishes in three areas: Worksop in Nottinghamshire, Macclesfield in Cheshire and Magnus the Martyr in London. There are two other parishes which have over 10 baptisms: Humberstone in Leicestershire and Bishopsgate in London.

Parish	Area	Number
Hartington	Derbyshire	31
Baslow	Derbyshire	15
Worksop	Nottinghamshire	13
Macclesfield	Cheshire	13
Magnus the Martyr	London	13
Humberstone	Leicestershire	12
Bishopsgate	London	11

I shall have to keep updatiing this database.

There are over 400 baptisms from 19 regions/counties. Surprisingly there are a large number of spelling variants within this population;

Neadam

Neadham

Neadom

Nedam

Nedame

Nedeham

Nedham

Nedim

Nedom

Nedum

Needam

Needame

Needham

Needeham

Needem

Needom

Needum

Neeham

Neidham

Neodham

Neydam

Nidam

Nideham

Nidham

Nidhame

Nidim

Although Needham is the largest group the surname varies from Neadam to Nidim, with the largest number of variants being in Lincolnshire