Most Popular Last Names

In the following article, we will go over some of the most popular last names in U.S. and the world. Think yours is one of the most common surnames? Keep reading to find out…

Call it last name or surname, every individual on this planet has got one; even those people who claim they don’t have one. A person’s last name is his/her identity, a way to belong and be part of the society. The family name is passed on from one generation to the next, regardless of where you live, your profession, father’s name, or how you’ve been brought up as. There may be hundreds of different cultures all over the world and every culture has its own set of last names. We know that we all have different languages that we speak in and hence, this has contributed into giving us countless last names till date. However, among all of these last names, there are a few names that are more popular than others and they’ve come across more than once in your life.

What defines “most popular” is that out of every 10 people, almost half or more of them possess the same last name. Kind of freaky, huh? Well, not quite because our world’s population is growing day by day. But that’s another topic for discussion. At the moment, we are here to find out some common names found in the U.S. and across the globe. So, shall we get on with it? Read on to find out.

Last Names in the U.S.

Smith, Jones, Williams; aren’t these names heard of a bit too often? Let it be in movies, magazines, or real life, you will find certain names to pop out from the crowd since they are found in majority. Now the following results of popular last names were attained after conducting the 2000 U.S. population census. Do you think your family name is in the list below? Only one way to find out.

1-25

Smith
Johnson
Williams
Jones
Brown
Davis
Miller
Wilson
Moore
Taylor
Anderson
Thomas
Jackson
White
Harris
Martin
Thompson
Garcia
Martinez
Robinson
Clark
Rodriguez
Lewis
Lee
Walker

26-50

Hall
Allen
Young
Hernandez
King
Wright
Lopez
Hill
Scott
Green
Adams
Baker
Gonzalez
Nelson
Carter
Mitchell
Perez
Roberts
Turner
Phillips
Campbell
Parker
Evans
Edwards
Collins

51-75

Stewart
Sanchez
Morris
Rogers
Reed
Cook
Morgan
Bell
Murphy
Bailey
Rivera
Cooper
Richardson
Cox
Howard
Ward
Torres
Peterson
Gray
Ramirez
James
Watson
Brooks
Kelley
Sanders

76-100

Price
Bennett
Wood
Barnes
Ross
Henderson
Coleman
Jenkins
Perry
Powell
Long
Patterson
Hughes
Flores
Washington
Butler
Simmons
Foster
Gonzales
Bryant
Alexander
Russell
Griffin
Diaz
Hayes

Last Names Around the World

Similar to the U.S., there are other countries and cultures that have their set of common last names as well. As there are many countries which can be mentioned in this category, the task of collecting them all could be difficult. Which is why, we will take a look at a few last names from other countries. For that you can go over the following table.

India

Shah
Patel
Khan
Dixit
Gupta
Singh
Kumar
Patil
Desai
Agarwal

China

Wáng
Lǐ
Zhāng
Liú
Chén
Yáng
Huáng
Zhào
Wú
Zhōu

Korea

Kim
Lee
Park
Choi
Jeong
Kang
Cho
Yoon
Jang
Lim

England

Smith
Jones
Taylor
Brown
Williams
Wilson
Johnson
Davis
Robinson
Wright

Ireland

Murphy
O’Kelly
O’Sullivan
Walsh
Smith
O’Brien
O’Byrne
O’Ryan
O’Connor
O’Neill

Germany

Müller
Schmidt
Schneider
Fischer
Meyer
Weber
Schulz
Wagner
Becker
Hoffman

Scotland

Smith
Brown
Wilson
Robertson
Thomson
Campbell
Stewart
Anderson
Scott
Murray

Australia

Smith
Jones
Williams
Brown
Wilson
Taylor
Johnson
White
Martin
Anderson

Whether your last name is mentioned in our article or not, what matters is that the family name has its own identity. And that, no one can take it from you. This name defines who you are and where you come from. So, is your last name the most popular? Or were you few of the lucky / unlucky ones that have unique last names? Do let us know.