This is a list of the most common
surname
In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community.
Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...
s (also called last names or family names) in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
.
Canada (Canadian)
Province de Québec (Québécois)
Top 10 common surnames in
Québec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
as of 2006.
Costa Rica (Costa Rican)
Most common surnames in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
as of 2007.
Cuba (Cuban)
Most common surnames in Cuba.
Dominican Republic (Dominican)
El Salvador (Salvadoran)
Most common surnames in
El Salvador
El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south ...
as of 2005.
Guatemala (Guatemalan)
Most common surnames in
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...
as of 2015.
Mexico (Mexican)
Below are the most common surnames of Mexico. All of the surnames listed are of
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
origin.
United States (American)
All figures are for the
2000 United States Census
The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 c ...
, except for the 1990 Rank column which is for the
1990 United States Census.
The distribution of U.S. surnames reflects the history of immigration into the country. Many immigrants from non-
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
-speaking countries
Anglicized
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...
their names. Some examples of this are the popular Swedish name ''Johansson'' which was frequently changed to ''Johnson'', and the German ''Müller'' which became ''Miller''. Some very common Swedish names were so similar that only a minor change of spelling was necessary, such as ''Andersson'' and ''Jonsson'', which is why these names are much more common in the U.S. than in the United Kingdom. British surnames such as Williams, Jackson, Robinson, Harris, Davis, Brown and Jones are also common among people of non-British descent, such as
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s due to slavery.
''Garcia'' and ''Martinez'' represent the rapid growth of several Hispanic communities in the United States. According to the above table, from the 2000 Census, 17.11% of Americans have a surname among the top 100. On the other hand, 13.97% of Americans have a surname which occurs fewer than 100 times in the entire population.
Top surnames according to the 2010 U.S. Census may be foun
here
During the 2000 U.S. Census, the top one hundred surnames in the U.S. were:
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...
(9 May 1995). s:1990 Census Name Files dist.all.last (1-100).
See also
*
Lists of most common surnames
Lists of most common surnames by region:
* List of most common surnames in Asia
* List of most common surnames in Europe
* List of most common surnames in North America
* List of most common surnames in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand)
* List o ...
, for other continents
*
List of most popular given names
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...
References
Further reading
Popular baby names by decade and states€”US Social Security Administration
€”US Census 1990
€”US Census 2000
CMU AI Repository Names Corpus
External links
"How Popular is Your Last Name?" searchable data base from 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census, on PBS.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Most Common Surnames
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
Surnames, most common
Surnames of North American origin
Surnames, common