You may be wondering just how common your surname is and how many other people in the country share the same name as you. Some may even be a long-lost relative who you know nothing about. Here are the 20 most common surnames in the United States.
Smith
Smith is the most common surname in the United States. This is supported by Ancestry, which writes, “Smith has long been the most common surname in both the United States and Great Britain.” According to the 2010 census, there are approximately 2,442,977 people with the surname Smith.
Johnson
Johnson is the second most common surname in the United States. It’s a predominantly English and Scottish surname, with its origins coming from across the Atlantic Ocean. Since the 2010 census, there have been 1,932,812 people in the country who share the Johnson surname.
Williams
Williams is the third most common surname. It’s strongly tied to the English and Welsh, with its roots originating from these countries. The surname is so popular that 1,625,252 people have the name. It wouldn’t be surprising if you knew at least one person with the Williams surname.
Brown
Brown is the fourth most popular surname in the United States. This is supported by Thought Co., which writes, “Brown is the 4th most popular surname in the United States, the 5th most common in England, and the 4th most common last name in Australia.” Approximately 1,437,026 people have this surname.
Jones
Jones ranks fifth among the most common surnames. It originates from Wales and has traveled all the way across the United States, where it’s now firmly rooted in society. According to the 2010 census, 1,425,470 people have this surname in the United States.
Garcia
Garcia is the sixth most common surname in the United States. It’s a Hispanic surname, which helps to reflect the growth of the Hispanic community in the U.S. As of the 2010 census, there were 1,166,120 people with the surname Garcia. The surname has a Spanish origin and is common among Latin Americans.
Miller
Miller is seventh on the list. The surname has English and Scottish roots. For example, Find My Past writes, “The Miller surname is primarily English and Scottish, with two main hypothesized points of origin. The first is an occupational one, relating to those who kept, operated or owned mills.” In the United States, 1,161,437 people have this surname.
Davis
Ranking eighth on the list of most common surnames is Davis. It has a Welsh origin and means “son of David.” Settlers would have brought this name with them when traveling to the New World. According to the 2010 census, there are 1,116,357 people in the United States with the surname Davis.
Rodriguez
Rodriguez is the ninth most common surname in the United States. It has a Spanish origin and means “son of Rodrigo.” The 2010 census tells us that 1,094,924 people have this surname in the U.S. It highlights the Hispanic influence in America and helps to show just how diverse the country is.
Martinez
Martinez comes in tenth on the list of popular surnames. This is supported by Family Search, which writes, “This surname has also been established in southern Italy since the period of Spanish dominance there. In the U.S., it is the tenth most frequent surname.” There are 1,060,159 people in the United States with this surname.
Hernandez
Hernandez is the eleventh most common surname in the United States. It once again highlights just how great an impact Hispanic surnames have on American culture, making it more diverse. The name Hernandez has a Spanish origin and is common among many Hispanic cultures.
Lopez
Lopez is another Hispanic surname on the most common surname list. It ranks twelve on the 2010 census of most common surnames. It has a Spanish origin but is well spread among Hispanic Americans. It strongly represents the Hispanic community in the U.S. population.
Gonzalez
Gonzalez takes the thirteenth spot on the most common surnames list in the United States. For example, Name Census writes, “The Gonzalez surname appeared 841,025 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 285.11 would have the surname Gonzalez.”
Wilson
Wilson comes in at fourteenth on the list of most common surnames. The surname has an English and Scottish origin, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming popular in the United States. The name means “son of Will” and reflects the Anglo-Saxon influence on the U.S.
Anderson
Anderson is the fifteenth most common surname in the United States. It has a Scandinavian origin, which shows just how far the name has traveled to arrive in the U.S. The surname Anderson means “son of Anders” and is popular among populations with Scandinavian ancestry.
Thomas
Thomas comes in at sixteenth for the most common surnames in the United States. The name comes from “son of Thomas.” For example, Forebears writes, “This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor, ‘the son of Thomas.’ Thomas or Thome (whence Tom) was a universal favorite.” The name can also mean “twin.”
Taylor
Taylor is the seventeenth most popular name in the United States. It has an English and Scottish origin and is seen as a more occupational surname. This is because the surname can take on the other spelling of Taylor and become “Tailor,” which refers to a person who alters clothing.
Moore
The eighteenth most common surname in the U.S. is Moore. It has both an English and Irish origin and is derived from several different roots. This surname can reflect the blending of cultures in the United States, as it brings together the English and Irish as well.
White
White is the nineteenth most common surname in the United States. It has an English, Scottish, and Irish origin and often denotes someone with very pale or light skin. It shows the wide range of surnames that can be used to describe someone physically in the United States.
Lee
Coming in at number twenty on the list of most common surnames is Lee. It’s a multicultural surname with different origins. The name has English, Korean, and Chinese roots, reflecting just how diverse the United States is when it comes to different cultures. This surname represents one of the most culturally diverse surnames in the country.
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