List of most common surnames

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Family names can be unique or come in large numbers. In different countries some names are more common than others. This is a listing of common surnames (alphabetical by country names):

Contents 1 Argentina 2 Belgium 3 Canada 3.1 English Canada 3.2 Quebec 4 China 5 Czech Republic 6 Denmark 7 Estonia 8 Finland 9 France 10 Germany 11 Hungary 12 Ireland 13 Israel 14 Italy 15 Japan 16 Korea 17 Latvia 18 Lithuania 19 Malta 20 Mexico 21 The Netherlands 22 Norway 23 Poland 24 Russia 25 Singapore 26 Slovenia 27 Spain 28 Sweden 29 Taiwan 30 United Kingdom 30.1 England, Wales and Isle of Man 30.2 Scotland 30.3 Northern Ireland 31 United States 32 Vietnam 33 See also

[edit] Argentina

The following table only covers the capital Buenos Aires, and is only an approximate ranking. It is based on the number of telephone connections per surname in the white pages of the city.

	Name
1	Fernández
2	Rodríguez
3	González
4	García
5	López
6	Martínez
7	Pérez
8	Álvarez
9	Gómez
10	Sanchez

Date

2003

Source

Extract of Buenos Aires telephone dictionary by Juan F. Codagnone

[edit] Belgium

	Name	Number of people
1	Peeters	33,113
2	Janssens	30,996
3	Maes	25,567
4	Jacobs	20,096
5	Mertens	18,699
6	Willems	18,540
7	Claes	16,757
8	Goossens	16,075
9	Wouters	15,834
10	De Smet	14,251

For the three Regions in Belgium, the most common surnames are:

	Flemish region	Walloon region	Brussels-Capital region
1	Peeters	Dubois	Janssens
2	Janssens	Lambert	Peeters
3	Maes	Martin	Dubois
4	Jacobs	Dupont	Jacobs
5	Willems	Dumont	Mertens

Date

January 1, 2001

Source

Statistics Belgium, Demographic Statistics. [1]

[edit] Canada

[edit] English Canada

1. Johnson
2. Smith
3. Martin
4. Morris
5. Hill
6. Hall
7. Jackson

Source: [2]

[edit] Quebec

The 50 most popular surnames in Quebec

1. Tremblay (1.13%)
2. Gagnon (0.82%)
3. Roy (0.77%)
4. Côté (0.74%)
5. Bouchard (0.56%)
6. Gauthier (0.55%)
7. Morin (0.51%)
8. Lavoie (0.49%)
9. Fortin (0.47%)
10. Gagné (0.47%)
11. Pelletier (0.45%)
12. Bélanger (0.44%)
13. Bergeron (0.41%)
14. Lévesque (0.41%)
15. Simard (0.38%)
16. Girard (0.37%)
17. Leblanc (0.37%)
18. Boucher (0.35%)
19. Ouellet (0.34%)
20. Caron (0.32%)
21. Beaulieu (0.31%)
22. Poirier (0.31%)
23. Dubé (0.31%)
24. Cloutier (0.31%)
25. Fournier (0.30%)
26. Lapointe (0.30%)
27. Lefebvre (0.29%)
28. Poulin (0.28%)
29. Nadeau (0.28%)
30. Martin (0.27%)
31. St-Pierre (0.27%)
32. Martel (0.26%)
33. Grenier (0.26%)
34. Landry (0.26%)
35. Lessard (0.26%)
36. Leclerc (0.25%)
37. Bédard (0.25%)
38. Bernier (0.24%)
39. Couture (0.24%)
40. Richard (0.23%)
41. Michaud (0.23%)
42. Desjardins (0.23%)
43. Hébert (0.22%)
44. Blais (0.22%)
45. Turcotte (0.22%)
46. Savard (0.22%)
47. Lachance (0.22%)
48. Parent (0.22%)
49. Demers (0.21%)
50. Gosselin (0.21%)

Percentage of total population: 17.82%

Sources: Institut de la statistique du Québec, Quelques Statistiques sur les Noms de Famille and Les 1 000 premiers noms de famille selon le rang, Québec

[edit] China

See also: List of common Chinese surnames

According to the survey conducted by Chinese Academy of Sciences released in January 2006, the top twenty surnames in China are listed as follows.

1. (李) Lǐ
2. (王) Wáng
3. (張) Zhāng
4. (劉) Liú
5. (陳) Chén
6. (楊) Yáng
7. (黃) Huáng
8. (趙) Zhào
9. (周) Zhōu
10. (吳) Wú
11. (徐) Xú
12. (孫) Sūn
13. (朱) Zhū
14. (馬) Mǎ
15. (胡) Hu
16. (郭) Guō
17. (林) Lín
18. (何) Hé
19. (高) Gāo
20. (梁) Liáng

[edit] Czech Republic

1. Novák (70 504)
2. Svoboda (52 088)
3. Novotný (49 962)
4. Dvořák (46 099)
5. Černý (36 743)
6. Procházka (33 274)
7. Kučera (31 286)
8. Veselý (26 481)
9. Horák (25 174)
10. Němec (22 795)
11. Marek (22 548)
12. Pokorný (22 203)
13. Pospíšil (22 189)
14. Hájek (21 276)
15. Jelínek (20 733)
16. Král (20 510)
17. Růžička (19846)
18. Beneš (19 600)
19. Fiala (19 121)
20. Sedláček (18 484)

Feminized names included (m. Novák - f. Nováková).
Source: Ministry of Interior (as of 2002).

[edit] Denmark

Most popular Danish family names (as of 2004) [3]

1. Jensen 303089
2. Nielsen 296,850
3. Hansen 248,968
4. Pedersen 186,913
5. Andersen 172,894
6. Christensen 133,033
7. Larsen 129,662
8. Sørensen 124,175
9. Rasmussen 104,130
10. Jørgensen 98,354
11. Petersen 92,189
12. Madsen 70,176
13. Kristensen 65,074
14. Olsen 54,044
15. Thomsen 40,514
16. Christiansen 40,224
17. Poulsen 34,203
18. Johansen 33,120
19. Knudsen 31,977
20. Mortensen 31,252

The most popular Danish family names all end with "sen", meaning "son". That means, that for example "Jensen" is "son of Jens", "Poulsen" is "son of Poul". An example: if Hans Petersen's father was Peter Sørensen, Hans' father's name was Peter, and his grandfather's Søren. His son would then be (first name) Hansen. This method of naming children was widely used up to the middle of the 19th century. Sometimes it was also common to give to girls names such as "Jensdatter" or "Poulsdatter", meaning daughter of Jens, or daughter of Poul. These names are now seldom seen in Denmark, but still widely known and used in Iceland (where the ending is -dóttir).

Nowadays, the "sen" names have lost their meanings, because women bear them too.

[edit] Estonia

	Name	Number of people
1	Tamm	5,180
2	Saar	4,306
3	Mägi	3,565
4	Sepp	3,550
5	Ivanov
6	Kask
7	Ivanova
8	Kukk
9	Rebane
10	Ilves

Date

February 1, 2005

Source

Ministry of Internal Affairs Estonia, press release "Tamm, Saar, Mägi and Sepp are the most common family names in Estonia" 09.02.2005 [4]

[edit] Finland

Source: Population Register Centre, 20 June 2005. Percentages are based on the population of Finland on 21 June 2005.

1. Virtanen - 24,204 (0.461%)
2. Korhonen - 23,721 (0.452%)
3. Nieminen - 21,841 (0.416%)
4. Mäkinen - 21,699 (0.414%)
5. Mäkelä - 19,674 (0.375%)
6. Hämäläinen - 19,518 (0.372%)
7. Laine - 18,908 (0.360%)
8. Koskinen - 18,058 (0.344%)
9. Heikkinen - 17,939 (0.342%)
10. Järvinen - 17,381 (0.331%)

Most of the names of this list refer to the living place of the first holder of the name. Virta and Koski refer the original holder has located nearby a river. Mäki = hill, Järvi = lake, Niemi = cape. Hämäläinen means an inhabitant of Häme (Tavastia county). Heikki is a common man's first name.

[edit] France

Source (2004) : [5]

1. Martin - 235,846 (0.393%) - From Saint Martin, patron saint of France (from Martius, Latin for warrior)
2. Bernard - 105,132 (0.175%) - From Saint Bernard, from Germanic for bold as a bear
3. Dubois - 95,998 (0.159%) - "From the wood"
4. Thomas - 95,387 (0.158%) - From Saint Thomas (Jesus' Disciple), from Hebrew for twin
5. Robert - 91,393 (0.152%) - From Germanic for bright fame
6. Richard - 90,689 (0.151§) - "Rich/powerful"
7. Petit - 88,318 (0.147%) - "Small" (size)
8. Durand - 84,252 (0.140%) - From Durandus (Latin for strong, lasting)
9. Leroy - 78,868 (0.131%) - "The King/The winner"
10. Moreau - 78,177 (0.130) - Dark complexion (like Maures)
11. Simon - 76,655 (0.127%) - From Saint Simon, from Hebrew for Yehova heard
12. Laurent - 75,307 (0.125%) - From Saint Laurent, from Latin laurens, Laurel-crowned
13. Lefebvre - 74,564 (0.124%) - "The smith"
14. Michel - 74,318 (0.123%) - From Saint Michel, from Hebrew for Who is like God
15. Garcia - 68,720 (0.114%) - Spanish surname meaning like a fox
16. David - 61,762 (0.103%) - From King David, from Hebrew for Beloved
17. Bertrand - 59,817 (0.100%) From Germanic for bright and vigorous
18. Roux - 59,440 (0.099%) - "Red-haired"
19. Vincent - 57,351 (0.096%) - From Saint Vincent, from Latin vicens, winner
20. Fournier - 57,047 (0.095%) - "Baker"
21. Morel - 56,760 (0.095%) - Dark complexion (like Maures)
22. Girard - 55,642 (0.093%) - From Germanic for bold as a spear
23. André - 55,228 (0.092%) - From Saint André, from Greek for manly
24. Lefèvre - 53670 (0.089%) - "The smith"
25. Mercier - 53622 (0.089%) - "Trader/Shopkeeper"

[edit] Germany

data from 1995

1. Müller (0.95%)(Miller)
2. Schmidt (0.69%) (Smith, blacksmith)
3. Schneider (0.40%) (Taylor)
4. Fischer (0.35%) (Fisher)
5. Meyer (0.33%) (from Latin "major", the bigger one, referring to the name-giver's status; also: Meier, 0.15%; Maier, 0.13%; Mayer, 0.13%)
6. Weber (0.30%) (Weaver)
7. Schulz (0.27%) (regionally for mayor)
8. Wagner (0.27%) (builder of wagons and carriages)
9. Becker (0.27%) (Baker)
10. Hoffmann (0.26%) (owning a farm)
11. Huber (0.18%) (owning a farm of a certain size called Hube)
12. Klein (Small, Short)

Most of the names of this list refer to the occupation of the first holder of the name.

[edit] Hungary

1. Nagy (239310; big, cf. Gross, Legrand)
2. Kovács (221687; smith, cf. Schmidt)
3. Tóth (216758; Slovak/Slav)
4. Szabó (212586; tailor, cf. Schneider, Couturier)
5. Horváth (Horvát) (201059; Croatian)
6. Varga (139764; shoemaker, cf. Schumacher, person working with leather)
7. Kiss (Kis) (134305; small, cf. Klein, Lepetit)
8. Molnár (109178; miller, cf. Müller)
9. Németh (Német) (93990; German, cf. Deutsch, Lallemand)
10. Farkas (83346; <given name, meaning "wolf">, cf. Wolf)
11. Balogh (80113; left-handed, unskillful)
12. Papp (53847; priest)
13. Takács (53402; weaver, cloth-maker, cf. Weber)
14. Juhász (52495; shepherd, cf. Schäfer)
15. Lakatos (45051; locksmith)
16. Mészáros (41061; butcher, cf. Fleischer, Boucher)
17. Simon (38481; <given name>)
18. Oláh (38311; Vlach, Romanian)
19. Fekete (35179; black, cf. Schwarz, Lenoir)
20. Rácz (35109; Serbian)
21. Szilágyi (31986; from Szilágy county)
22. Török (27206; Turkish)
23. Fehér (26804; white, cf. Weiss, Leblanc)
24. Gál (Gaál) (25924; <given name>)
25. Balázs (25804; <given name>)
26. Balla (25804; <given name>)
27. Kis (24613; see Kiss)
28. Szűcs (24416)
29. Pintér (23951)
30. Kocsis (23911)
31. Fodor (23371)

Notes:

• The above is official data of the Central Personal Data Processing Office at Hungary's Ministry of Interior in 2006 [6].
• Beside the names, the number of their owners and their meaning is given. (Note that Hungarian surnames often show archaic spelling and occasionally employ obsolete words, especially for nationalities like tót or rác.)
• In Hungary, the surname is placed first (see Eastern order).

[edit] Ireland

Source: [7]

1. Murphy
2. Kelly
3. O'Sullivan
4. Walsh
5. Smith
6. O'Brien
7. Byrne
8. Ryan
9. O'Connor
10. O'Neill
11. O'Reilly
12. Doyle
13. McCarthy
14. Gallagher
15. O'Doherty
16. Kennedy
17. Lynch
18. Murray
19. Quinn
20. Moore
21. Hogan
22. Horgan

Names starting with O' and Mac/Mc are patronymic.

[edit] Israel

This is a list of the most common Jewish surnames in Israel:

	Name	Percentage of population
1	Cohen (כהן)	2.52%
2	Levi (לוי) (sometimes spelled Levy)	1.48%
3	Mizrachi (מזרחי)	0.47%
4	Peretz (פרץ)	0.42%
5	Biton (ביטון)	0.40%

Date

unknown

Source

http://www.britam.org/jerusalem/jerusalem271to300.html

[edit] Italy

Main article: List of Italian surnames

1. Rossi
2. Russo
3. Ferrari
4. Esposito
5. Bianchi
6. Romano
7. Colombo
8. Ricci
9. Marino
10. Greco
11. Bruno
12. Gallo
13. Conti
14. De Luca
15. Costa
16. Giordano
17. Mancini
18. Rizzo
19. Lombardi
20. Moretti

Date

unknown

Source

Gens

[edit] Japan

Main article: Japanese name

The most common names from Tokyo northwards are Sato and Suzuki; the most common names from Kyoto and Osaka southwards are Yamamoto and Tanaka. (A list of the most common family names in all of Japan is at http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/site/top500_Japanese_family_names.xls)

The most common names in Tokyo are:

1. (佐藤) Satō
2. (鈴木) Suzuki
3. (高橋) Takahashi
4. (田中) Tanaka
5. (渡辺) Watanabe
6. (伊藤) Itō
7. (山本) Yamamoto
8. (中村) Nakamura
9. (小林) Kobayashi
10. (斎藤) Saitō
11. (加藤) Katō
12. (吉田) Yoshida
13. (山田) Yamada
14. (佐々木) Sasaki
15. (山口) Yamaguchi
16. (松本) Matsumoto
17. (井上) Inoue
18. (木村) Kimura
19. (林) Hayashi
20. (清水) Shimizu
21. (青木) Aoki

The top 10 surnames cover 8.35% of the population.

[edit] Korea

Main article: List of Korean family names

1. 김 (金; Kim, Gim)
2. 이 (李; Lee, Yi, I)
3. 박 (朴; Park, Pak, Bak)
4. 최 (崔; Choi, Choe)
5. 정 (鄭; Jung, Chung, Jeong)
6. 강 (姜; Kang, Gang)
7. 조 (趙; Cho, Jo)
8. 윤 (尹; Yoon, Yun)
9. 장 (張; Jang, Chang)
10. 임 (林; Lim, Im)
11. 한 (韓; Han)
12. 신 (申; Shin, Sin)
13. 서 (徐; Suh, Seo)
14. 권 (權; Kwon, Gwon)
15. 손 (孫; Sohn, Son)
16. 황 (黃; Hwang, Whang)
17. 송 (宋; Song)
18. 안 (安; Ahn, An)
19. 유 (柳; Yoo, Yu)
20. 홍 (洪; Hong)

Source: National Statistical Office, Republic of Korea

Korean surnames have a variety of ways of being romanized.

[edit] Latvia

1. Bērziņš (Berzinsh)
2. Kalniņš (Kalninsh)
3. Ozoliņš (Ozolinsh)
4. Jansons (Jansons)
5. Ozols (Ozols)
6. Liepiņš (Liepinsh)
7. Krūmiņš (Kruminsh)
8. Balodis (Balodis)
9. Eglītis (Eglitis)
10. Zariņš (Zarinsh)
11. Pētersons (Petersons)
12. Vītols (Vitols)
13. Kļaviņš (Klavinsh)
14. Kārkliņš (Karklinsh)
15. Vanags (Vanags)

First three literally translated - the diminutive forms of birch, hill and oak. Source - the Latvian Institute

[edit] Lithuania

#	For men	For women
1	Kazlauskas	Kazlauskienė
2	Stankevičius	Jankauskienė
3	Jankauskas	Petrauskienė
4	Petrauskas	Stankevičienė
5	Vasiliauskas	Ivanova
6	Žukauskas	Kazlauskaitė
7	Paulauskas	Jankauskaitė
8	Butkus	Petrauskaitė

Note: Lithuanian language has different endings for surnames for men and women. The ending of female surname tell if she is married or not. Last names of married women end in -ienė while those of unmarried girls end in -ytė, -iūtė, -utė, -aitė.

Source: The Interesting Statistics, Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (Statistics Lithuania), 2005.

[edit] Malta

	Name	Number of people	%	Etymology
1	Borg	13,169	3.3	Sicilian city of Burgi; or from Sant'Ambrogio
2	Camilleri	12,643	3.1	Son of Camillus; or 'cammelo' Italian for camel(animal)
3	Vella	11,785	2.9	'bella' Italian for beautiful; or 'vela' Italian sails
4	Farrugia	11,549	2.9	'farrug' Arabic for turkey (animal)
5	Zammit	9,424	2.3	Maybe from a Hebrew word meaning peaceful

Date

November 27, 2005

Source

"Census 2005: A focus on surnames in Malta", National Statistics Office Malta [8]

Source of etymologies

http://www.searchmalta.com/surnames

An older source gives a longer list of surnames. These are:

	Name	Number of people	Etymology
6	Galea	7,442	? The Latin word for helmet
7	Micallef	7,166	the name Mikali (Michael) or from 'mħallef', the Maltese word for judge (profession)
8	Grech	6,740	'Graecus' Latin for Greek
9	Attard	6,453	'attar' Arabic for pharmacist/physician
10	Spiteri	6,391	'Hospitalieri', used for abandoned children (near the Knights' Hospital)
11	Cassar	5,985	Maybe castle keeper (Latin origin) or barber (Arabic origin)
12	Azzopardi	5,905	'A Safardi', meaning 'A Jew coming from Spain'
13	Mifsud	5,707	Jewish surname
14	Caruana	5,577	Kairouan in Tunisia, in turn is derived from the Persian word Kârawân [9]
15	Muscat	5,288	Muscat in Oman or Muscat grape
16	Agius	4,944	Maybe Greek Holy or Maltese old man or referring to a pilgrim to Mecca
17	Schembri	4,226	Greek surname
18	Abela	4,117
19	Fenech	4,111	Maybe 'fenek' Maltese for rabbit or 'Fenici' meaning Phoenicians
20	Pace	4,017	'pace' Italian for peace

Date

unknown

Source

http://www.maltavista.ru/info/surnames, which refers to "Surnames in Malta: what can they tell us?" by Prof. Joseph M. Brincat

Source of etymologies

http://www.searchmalta.com/surnames

[edit] Mexico

Martinez Gonzalez Rodriguez Cruz

1. Hernández (8.50%)
2. García (8.14%)
3. Martínez (7.14%)
4. González (7.09%)
5. López (7.06%)

Source: GARCÍA, Miriam Para regios...los Martínez Periódico El Norte 18 de marzo de 2003.

[edit] The Netherlands

The most recent complete count of surnames in the Netherlands is based on the 1947 census. Although this data is now dated, the relative positions of these surnames will probably not have changed much.

	Name	Number of people
1	De Jong	55,256
2	De Vries	49,298
3	Jansen	49,213
4	Van den Berg, Van der Berg, Van de Berg	37,678
5	Bakker	37,483
6	Van Dijk	36,578
7	Visser	34,721
8	Janssen	32,824
9	Smit	29,783
10	Meijer, Meyer	28,256

Date

May 31, 1947

Source

Nederlands Repertorium van Familienamen, Meertens-Instituut, 1963-1988. Data can be viewed in the Database of Surnames in the Netherlands

[edit] Norway

1. Hansen (meaning son of Hans (Hans' son)) (1.31%)
2. Olsen (1.21%)
3. Johansen (1.21%)
4. Larsen (0.90%)
5. Andersen (0.88%)
6. Nilsen (0.83%)
7. Pedersen (0.82%)
8. Kristiansen (0.55%)
9. Jensen (0.54%)
10. Karlsen (0.50%)
11. Johnsen (0.48%)
12. Pettersen (0.47%)
13. Eriksen (0.44%)
14. Berg (meaning hill or mount) (0.41%)
15. Haugen (meaning hill) (0.32%)
16. Hagen (meaning garden [usually derived from names of homesteads)] (0.32%)
17. Johannessen (0.31%)
18. Andreassen (0.28%)
19. Jacobsen (0.27%)
20. Halvorsen (0.27%)

Names ending in sen are originally patronymic.
Source: Statistics Norway: Name statistics

[edit] Poland

See also: Polish surnames

1. Nowak (203,506; from nowy "newman")
2. Kowalski (139,719; from kowal "smith")
3. Wiśniewski (109,855; from wiśnia "cherry")
4. Wójcik (99,509; from wójt, a noun describing chief officer of a group of a villages)
5. Kowalczyk (97,796, from kowalek "smithy")
6. Kamiński (94,499; from kamień "stone")
7. Lewandowski (92,449; from lewantyna "Levantine")
8. Zieliński (91,043; from zielony "green")
9. Szymański (89,091; from Szymon, equivalent to Simon)
10. Woźniak (88,039; from woźny, "apparitor")
11. Dąbrowski (86,132; from dąb "oak tree")
12. Kozłowski (75,962; from kozioł "goat")
13. Jankowski (68,514; from Janek, equivalent to John)
14. Mazur (66,773; from Mazury, the region in Poland)
15. Wojciechowski (66,361; from the name Wojciech, equivalent to Adalbert)
16. Kwiatkowski (66,017; from kwiat "flower")
17. Krawczyk (64,048; from diminutive of "tailor")
18. Kaczmarek (61,816; from karczma "inn")
19. Piotrowski (61,380; from Piotr, equivalent to Peter)
20. Bagiński (60,492; from baginiak "master")
21. Grabowski (58,393; from grab "hornbeam")

Source: Zawadzki J.M, 2002, 1000 Najpopularniejszych nazwisk w Polsce [1000 of the most popular names in Poland], Warsaw: Świat Książki

[edit] Russia

Per Boris Unbegaun of Oxford University:

1. Иванов (Ivanov) - "of John"
2. Васильев (Vasilyev) - "of Basil"
3. Петров (Petrov) - "of Peter"
4. Смирнов (Smirnov) - "of a quiet man"
5. Михайлов (Mikhailov) - "of Michael"
6. Федоров (Fyodorov) - "of Theodore"
7. Соколов (Sokolov) - "of a falcon"
8. Яковлев (Yakovlev) - "of Jacob"
9. Попов (Popov) - "of an Orthodox priest (known as a "pope")"
10. Андреев (Andreyev) - "of Andrew"
11. Сидоров (Sidorov) - "of Sidor"
12. Egorov (Egorov) - "of Egor"

Russian surnames may originally denote "son of" or "serf of". Women's surnames have an "-a" suffix, denoting possession. Thus, for example, "Ivanova" means "belonging to John" or "John's". The case declensions of women's surnames illustrate this sense of possession even more clearly.

The Russian equivalent of "Smith, Jones, and Brown" (that is, the generic most popular surnames) is Иванов, Петров, Сидоров, or "Johnson, Peterson, and Sidorson". The last of these, Sidorov - "of Sidor" is actually not a very common surname at all, while Sidor as a given name is virtually unknown.

[edit] Singapore

Popular Chinese surnames - based on a paper published by Statistics Singapore, 2000

1. Tan 陈 (陳)
2. Lim 林
3. Lee 李
4. Ng 黄
5. Ong 王
6. Wong 黃
7. Goh 吳
8. Chua 蔡
9. Chan 陈 (陳)
10. Koh 许 (許)
11. Teo 张 (張)
12. Ang 洪
13. Yeo 杨 (楊)
14. Tay 郑 (鄭)
15. Ho 何
16. Low 刘 (劉)
17. Toh 卓
18. Sim 沈
19. Chong 张 (張)
20. Chia 谢(謝)

[edit] Slovenia

Source: http://www.stat.si/imena_pr_vsa.asp

1. Novak 11450
2. Horvat 10258
3. Krajnc 5839
4. Kovačič 5699
5. Zupančič 5187
6. Kovač 4836
7. Potočnik 4767
8. Mlakar 4132
9. Vidmar 4004
10. Golob 3957

[edit] Spain

Source: [10] - Data from December 1999.

1. García - 1,378,000 people (3.48%) (Of Iberian origin, meaning like a fox)
2. Fernández - 851,000 (2.15%) (Son of Fernando)
3. González - 839,000 (2.12%) (Son of Gonzalo)
4. Rodríguez - 804,000 (2.03%) (Son of Rodrigo)
5. López - 796,000 (2.01%) (Son of Lope)
6. Martínez - 788,000 (1.97%) (Son of Martin)
7. Sánchez - 725,000 (1.83%) (Son of Sancho)
8. Pérez - 709,000 (1.79%) (Son of Peter)
9. Martín - 459,000 (1.16%) (Martin)
10. Gómez - 440,000 (1.11%) (Son of Gome)
11. Ruiz - 321,000 (0.81%) (Son of Rui)
12. Hernández - 305,000 (0.77%) (Son of Hernando, Fernando)
13. Jiménez - 293,000 (0.74%) (Son of Jimeno)
14. Díaz - 293,000 (0.74%) (Son of Jacob)
15. Álvarez - 273,000 (0.69%) (Son of Alvaro)
16. Moreno - 261,000 (0.66%) (Brown-haired, tanned; also Moorish)
17. Muñoz - 241,000 (0.61%) (Son of Muño)
18. Alonso - 206,000 (0.52%) (Son of Alfonso)
19. Gutiérrez - 170,000 (0.43%) (Son of Walter, from Germanic Walthari meaning king)
20. Romero - 170,000 (0.43%) (walker, pilgrim)
21. Navarro - 158,400 (0.40%) (Navarrese, from Navarra)
22. Torres - 134,600 (0.34%) (Towers)
23. Domínguez - 134,600 (0.34%) (Son of Domingos)
24. Gil - 134,600 (0.34%) (Patronymic; from older form Hermenegildo)
25. Vázquez - 130,000 (0.33%) (Son of Velasco)
26. Serrano - 122,700 (0.31%) (Mountain Dweller)
27. Ramos - 118,000 (0.30%) (Branches)
28. Blanco - 118,000 (0.30%) (White)
29. Sanz - 106,900 (0.27%) (Saxon)
30. Castro - 102,900 (0.26%) (Castle, hamlet, castro)
31. Suárez - 102,900 (0.26%) (Son of Suero)
32. Ortega - 99,000 (0.25%) (A type of bird)
33. Rubio - 99,000 (0.25%) (Blonde)
34. Molina - 99,000 (0.25%) (Mill)
35. Delgado - 95,000 (0.24%) (Thin)
36. Ramírez - 95,000 (0.24%) (Son of Ramiro)
37. Morales - 95,000 (0.24%) (Morals)
38. Ortiz - 87,120 (0.22%) (Son of Ortún; ultimately from Latin Fortunatus, meaning fortunate one)
39. Marín - 83,160 (0.21%) (Seaman)
40. Iglesias - 83,160 (0.21%) (Churches)

Family names ending in -ez are typically patronymic

[edit] Sweden

official statistics

• Johansson (3.3%)
• Andersson (3.2%)
• Karlsson (2.5%)
• Nilsson (2.2%)
• Eriksson (1.7%)
• Larsson (1.6%)
• Olsson (1.4%)
• Persson (1.4%)
• Svensson (1.3%)
• Gustafsson (0.90%)
• Pettersson (0.83%)
• Jonsson (0.72%)
• Jansson (0.63%)
• Hansson (0.54%)
• Bengtsson (0.42%)
• Jönsson (0.42%)
• Petersson (0.37%)
• Carlsson (0.34%)
• Gustavsson (0.32%)
• Magnusson (0.32%)
• Lindberg (0.31%)
• Olofsson (0.30%)

The most common names in Sweden are originally patronymic, which means that the son of e.g. Karl received the surname Karlsson (Karl's son). The daughter received the name Karlsdotter (Karl's daughter). Since the 19th century these names are inherited exactly as in e.g. USA or the United Kingdom and women also receive "son-names". Compare this with the "mac-names" in Scotland. Even though these "son-names" are the most common names in Sweden, a majority of the Swedes have other family names consisting of two random items from nature, for example Lindberg (linden/lime mountain), Bergkvist (mountain twig), Alström/Ahlström (alder stream). A very good example of the randomness of these nature-names is the surname Dalberg, meaning literally, "valley mountain". Other names like Sjöman (Seaman) and Nyman (Newman) contain professions and adjectives. Many families also have military-oriented names, as it was popular near the end of the 16th century to adopt soldier names such as Skarpsvärd (sharp sword) Sköld (shield) and Stolt (proud). Because of the greater diversity of these names each specific name is less common than most "son-names". Given the large quantity of citizens of foreign heritage it is a matter of time before their surnames will be present high up in the official statistics, especially when grouped together instead of listed as separate surnames because of slightly different spelling or omitted umlauts etc. Persons with ancestors of noble origin in Sweden often, but not always, have surnames referring to their coat of arms or non-Swedish names.

[edit] Taiwan

Popular Chinese surnames - based on Ministry of the Interior also see Common Chinese Names [11]

1. 陳 (11.06%) Chen
2. 林 (8.28%) Lin
3. 黃 (6.01%) Huang, Hwang
4. 張 (5.26%) Chang, Jang
5. 李 (5.11%) Li, Lee
6. 王 (4.12%) Wang
7. 吳 (4.04%) Wu, Woo
8. 劉 (3.17%) Liu, Liou
9. 蔡 (2.91%) Tsai, Chai, Tsay
10. 楊 (2.66%) Yang

[edit] United Kingdom

[edit] England, Wales and Isle of Man

The following list is for England, Wales, and the Isle of Man, and is based on a survey of the National Health Service Central Register[12].

1. Smith (1.15%)
2. Jones (0.94%)
3. Williams (0.66%)
4. Taylor (0.53%)
5. Brown (0.51%)
6. Davies (0.48%)
7. Evans (0.39%)
8. Wilson (0.35%)
9. Thomas (0.35%)
10. Johnson (0.34%)
11. Roberts (0.33%)
12. Robinson (0.29%)
13. Thompson (0.28%)
14. Wright (0.28%)
15. Walker (0.27%)
16. White (0.27%)
17. Edwards (0.27%)
18. Hughes (0.26%)
19. Green (0.25%)
20. Hall (0.25%)
21. Lewis (0.25%)
22. Harris (0.25%)
23. Clarke (0.24%)
24. Patel (0.24%)
25. Jackson (0.24%)

[edit] Scotland

From [13] , which also gives frequencies, provides a list of the top 100 and some regional variations.

1. Smith
2. Brown
3. Wilson
4. Campbell
5. Stewart
6. Thomson
7. Robertson
8. Anderson
9. Macdonald
10. Scott
11. Reid
12. Murray
13. Taylor
14. Clark
15. Ross
16. Watson
17. Morison
18. Paterson
19. Young
20. Mitchell

[edit] Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)[14] has released a list of the top three most common surnames. The list is expected to be expanded in January 2007.

1. Kelly
2. Campbell
3. Wilson

[edit] United States

According to 1990 U.S. Census data, the top twenty surnames in the U.S. (with percentage of population) are:

1. Smith (1.006%)
2. Johnson (0.810%)
3. Williams (0.699%)
4. Jones (0.621%)
5. Brown (0.621%)
6. Davis (0.580%)
7. Miller (0.424%)
8. Wilson (0.339%)
9. Moore (0.312%)
10. Taylor (0.311%)
11. Anderson (0.311%)
12. Thomas (0.311%)
13. Jackson (0.310%)
14. White (0.279%)
15. Harris (0.275%)
16. Martin (0.273%)
17. Thompson (0.269%)
18. Garcia (0.254%)
19. Martinez (0.234%)
20. Robinson (0.233%)

The distribution reflects the history of immigration into the country. Many immigrants from non-English-speaking countries Anglicized their names. Good 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. Slavery also had an effect; names such as Jackson, Harris, Davis, Brown, and Jones are common among African Americans, since slaves tended to be given, or adopt, their owners' surnames.

García and Martínez of course represent the rapid growth of several Hispanic communities in the United States as very common names in most Spanish-speaking countries.

Note that some communities in the USA can have distributions of surnames far different from these.

[edit] Vietnam

See Vietnamese name

	Name	Percentage of population
1	Nguyễn	38.4%
2	Trần	11%
3	Lê	9.5%
4	Huỳnh (Hoàng)	5.1%
5	Phạm	5%
6	Phan	4.5%
7	Vũ (Võ)	3.9%
8	Đặng	2.1%
9	Bùi	2%
10	Đỗ	1.4%
11	Hồ	1.3%
12	Ngô	1.3%
13	Dương	1%

Source

Họ Và Tên Người Việt Nam ("Vietnamese Family and Personal Names"), compiled by Professor Le Trung Hoa, Social Sciences Publishing House (2005) [15]

[edit] See also

• Most popular given names
• Family name affixes

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