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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Lists of most common surnames" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The frequency and origin of surnames varies widely. In the past, surnames were often given depending on one's occupation. For example, a blacksmith's surname would most likely be 'Smith,' and a baker's surname would probably be 'Baker'. This is a listing of the most common surnames (alphabetical by country names):

Asia

China

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

Japan

Based on the Japanese surname Dictionary (日本苗字大辞典) issued in July 1996, there are 291,129 different surnames in Japan. If surnames pronounced or romanized the same but written with different Chinese characters count as different surnames, there are believed to be approximately 300,000 surnames in Japan. The top 10 surnames cover approximately 10% of the population and the top ranked 7,000 surnames cover slightly more than approx. 96%.

This ranking is based on the average number of the entries in all Japanese Yellow Pages for the past three years.

Korea

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Korean surnames have a variety of ways of being romanized.

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; Jeong, Chung)
6. 강 (姜; Kang, Gang)
7. 조 (曹; Cho, Jo, Joe)
8. 윤 (尹; Yoon, Youn, Yun)
9. 장 (張; Jang, Chang)
10. 신 (申; Shin, Sin)
11. 한 (韓; Han)
12. 서 (徐; Seo,Suh)
13. 권 (權; Kwon)
14. 손 (孫; Son, Sohn)
15. 황 (黃; Hwang, Whang)
16. 송 (宋; Song,Soung)
17. 안 (安; Ahn, An)
18. 임 (林; Lim, Rim, Im)
19. 유 (柳; Yoo, Yu)
20. 홍 (洪; Hong)
21. 전 (全; Jeon, Jun)

Source: National Statistical Office, Republic of Korea.

Philippines

Common surnames

1. Santos
2. Reyes
3. Cruz
4. Bautista
5. Ocampo
6. García
7. Mendoza
8. Torres
9. Tomás
10. Andrada
11. Castillo
12. Flores
13. Villanueva
14. Ramos
15. Castro
16. Rivera
17. Aquino
18. Navarro
19. Salazar
20. Mercado
21. Concepción
22. Santiago

Prefix DE'

1. de la Cruz
2. de la Reyes
3. del Rosario
4. de los Santos
5. de Guzmán
6. de Castro
7. de la Vega
8. de la Rosa
9. de Asis
10. de Rosales

Suffix 'EZ

1. González
2. López
3. Hernández
4. Pérez
5. Fernández
6. Ramírez
7. Dominguez
8. Enriquez
9. Álvarez
10. Sánchez

The majority of Filipinos use Spanish surnames like other former Spanish colonies. However, many Filipinos still use their native surnames such as Kalaw, Macaraeg, Gatdula and many others. Filipino Chinese often use their Chinese family names. Some other Filipino mestizos (mixed-ancestry) bear the foreign names of their bloodline.

Source: National Statistics Office.

Singapore

Popular Chinese surnames - based on a "paper". Archived from the original on 2008-01-23. 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)

Taiwan

Popular Taiwanese surnames - based on Ministry of the Interior also see Common Chinese Names

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

Vietnam

The top 10 surnames cover more than 80% of population.

1. Nguyễn 阮 (38.4%)
2. Trần 陳 (11%)
3. Lê 黎 (9.5%)
4. Phạm 范 (7.1%)
5. Huỳnh/Hoàng 黃 (5.1%)
6. Phan 潘 (4.5%)
7. Vũ/Võ 武 (3.9%)
8. Đặng 鄧(2.1%)
9. Bùi 裴 (2%)
10. Đỗ 杜 (1.4%)
11. Hồ 胡 (1.3%)
12. Ngô 吳 (1.3%)
13. Dương 楊 (1%)
14. Lý 李 (0.5%)

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

India

Common North and Central India surnames

(Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, etc.)

1. Patel (GUJRATI)
2. Kapoor/Kapur (Punjabi)
3. Khan
4. Nigam
5. Khanna (name)
6. Arora
7. Kaur - Mostly punjabi girls last name
8. Gill (Punjab)
9. Singh (entire North India)-Punjab
10. Verma (primarily Bihar or UP)
11. Gupta
12. Agrawal/Agarwal/Aggarwal (Rajasthan, UP, MP)
13. Malhotra
14. Srivastava
15. Bhatnagar (UP/Bihar)
16. Saxena (UP/Bihar)
17. Sharma (whole of North India.; primarily UP)
18. Jha (Mithlanchal)
19. Mehra (Punjab)
20. Chopra (Punjab)
21. Nayyar (Punjab)
22. Sarin
23. Kaul (Kashmir)
24. Watal (Kashmir)
25. Malik
26. Yadav (UP/Bihar)
27. Jhadav
28. Jaiteley
29. Chauhan/Chouhan (Rajasthan, MP)
30. Mistry
31. Mishra
32. Khan (implies Pathan origin)
33. Rawat
34. Pareek
35. Ohri (Punjab)
36. Patidar
37. Tandon
38. Pandey
39. Bajpai
40. Shukla
41. Awasthi
42. Pathak
43. Dixit
44. tiwari
45. Tripathi
46. Trivedi
47. Dwivedi
48. Chaturvedi

Common Eastern India surnames

(Mostly Bengal but also Orissa, Assam, etc.)

1. Chatterjee/Chattopadhayay/Chatterji
2. Chakraborty/Chakrabarty
3. Roy/Ray
4. Mitra
5. Ghosh/Ghose
6. Dutta
7. Dey
8. Bose/Basu
9. Sen
10. Sengupta
11. Das
12. Biswas
13. Sarkar
14. Dasgupta
15. Banerjee/Bandopadhyay
16. Mukopadhyay/Mukherji
17. Bhattacharya/Bhattacharyya
18. Mandal
19. Naskar
20. Hazra
21. Patra/Mahapatra (Orissa)
22. Pattnaik
23. Mohanty
24. Sarma/Sarmah ( Regional variations of Sharma )
25. Pereira (Goa)

Common North-(far)Eastern India surnames

(Assam, Tripura, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachalpradesh, Sikkim)

1. Bhutia (Sikkim)
2. Thapa (Nepal/Sikkim)
3. Lyndem (Meghalaya)

Common Southern India surnames

(Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh etc.)

1. Reddy
2. Naidu
3. Chowdary
4. Dasari
5. Goud / Gowda
6. Mudiraj
7. Raju
8. Setty
9. Menon (Kerala)
10. Nair (Kerala)
11. Nambiar (Kerala)
12. Shetty(Karnataka)
13. Pillai
14. Rao (Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra)
15. Jayaraman
16. Venkatesan
17. Balasubramanium
18. Subramanium
19. Rangan
20. Uthappa (Coorg)
21. Rangarajan
22. Rai (Karnataka)
23. Varma
24. Kumar (Tamil Nadu)
25. Barama (Andhra Pradesh)

Common Western India surnames

(Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc)

1. Patel (Gujarat)
2. Shah (Gujarat)
3. Mehta (Punjab/Gujarat)
4. Patil (Maharashtra)
5. Pawar/Powar
6. Gavde
7. Kadam
8. Joshi
9. Tambe
10. Chavan
11. D'souza, Lobo, Rodrigues, D'Costa (Goan surnames- former Portuguese colonies in India)
12. Jessia, Tata (Parsi surnames. Usually found in Bombay/Gujarat)

Source: .

Middle East

Lebanon

This is a list of the most common surnames in Lebanon:

Israel

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

Source: http://www.britam.org/jerusalem/jerusalem271to300.html, quoting from Yediot Achronot, February 23, 2004.

Central America

Costa Rica

Source: "Conozca los nombres más curiosos del país," Periódico Al Día.

Eurasia (transcontinental)

Russia

The 20 most common Russian surnames (from the European part of Russia, as calculated by Balanovska et al., 2006, ):

1. Смирнов (Smirnov, 1.61%) - "quiet man's"
2. Иванов (Ivanov, 1.30%) - "John's"
3. Кузнецов (Kuznetsov, 0.90%) - "smith's"
4. Попов (Popov, 0.79%) - "priest's"
5. Соколов (Sokolov, 0.73%) - "falcon's"
6. Лебедев (Lebedev, 0,65%) - "swan's"
7. Козлов (Kozlov, 0,58%) - "he-goat's"
8. Новиков (Novikov, 0,54%) - "novik's" (novik - a teenager on military service who comes from a noble, boyar, or cossack family in Russia of 16th-18th centuries).
9. Морозов (Morozov, 0.53%) - "frost's"
10. Петров (Petrov, 0.44%) - "Peter's"
11. Волков (Volkov, 0.44%) - "wolf's"
12. Соловьёв (Solovyov, 0.44%) - "nightingale's"
13. Васильев (Vasilyev, 0.42%) - "Basil's"
14. Зайцев (Zaytsev, 0.41%) - "hare's"
15. Павлов (Pavlov, 0.39%) - "Paul's"
16. Семёнов (Semyonov, 0,35%) - "Simeon's"
17. Голубев (Golubev, 0,32%) - "pigeon's"
18. Виноградов (Vinogradov, 0.32%) - "grape's"
19. Богданов (Bogdanov, 0.31%) - "Bogdan's" (Bogdan - a Ukrainian given name)
20. Воробьёв (Vorobyov, 0.30%) - "sparrow's"

Russian surnames may originally denote "son of" or "serf of". Women's surnames have an "-a" feminine ending. Thus, for example, "Ivanova" means "belonging to John" or "John's daughter".

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. According to latest studies (2006), the most common Russian surnames are actually Smirnov, Ivanov and Kuznetsov.

Turkey

1. Yılmaz (means "dauntless")
2. Kaya (means "rock")
3. Demir (means "iron")
4. Şahin (means "falcon")
5. Çelik (means "steel")
6. oğlu (son of )

Source: Turkish Directorate-General of Population and Citizenships: &

Europe

Austria

The forty most common surnames in Austria as published in 2006 are shown below beside the approximate percentage of the Austrian population sharing each surname.

Belgium

Belgium is a European nation composed of three main regions: Flemish (Flanders), Walloon (Wallonia), and Brussels (nestled in south Flanders, near the Wallonian border). The Flemish region has a Dutch language tradition, while the Walloon region has a French language tradition. These different linguistic histories are reflected in differing commonalities of surnames, as shown in the table below.

Czech Republic

Source: Ministry of Interior (as of 2002).

Feminized names included (m. Novák - f. Nováková).

Denmark

Most popular Danish family names (as of 2004):

1. Jensen 303,089
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.

Estonia

This is a list of the most commons surnames in Estonia:

1. Ivanov (6,789)
2. Tamm (5,241) - Oak/dam
3. Saar (4,306) - Ash (tree)/island
4. Mägi (3,565) - Mountain/hill
5. Sepp (3,550) - Smith
6. Smirnov (3,402)
7. Vasilyev (3,153)
8. Kask - Birch
9. Kukk - Rooster
10. Rebane - Fox
11. Ilves - Lynx
12. Pärn - Linden
13. Koppel - Paddock
14. Luik - Swan
15. Oja - Brook
16. Kaasik - Birch grove
17. Lepik - Alder grove
18. Raudsepp - Blacksmith
19. Kuusk - Spruce/fir
20. Karu - Bear
21. Kütt - Hunter
22. Põder - Moose
23. Vaher- Maple

Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs Estonia, press release "Tamm, Saar, Mägi and Sepp are the most common family names in Estonia" 09.02.2005, February 1, 2005.

Finland

1. Virtanen-25,078 (0.567%)
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 on this list are typical examples of surnames that were adopted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time before which many Finns had no surname in today's sense. In the romantic spirit, they refer to natural features — virta "river", koski "rapids", mäki "hill" — often with the suffix -nen added after the model of older, mainly eastern Finnish surnames such as Korhonen and Heikkinen. "Hämäläinen" literally means an inhabitant of Häme. Heikki is a Finnish form of the man's name Henry.

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

France

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 Aramaic 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 God 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. García - 68,720 (0.114%) - Spanish surname
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"

Source: (2004)

Georgia

Source: 2007.

Germany

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Data from 1995.

1. Müller (0.95%) (Miller)
2. Schmidt (0.69%) (Smith, blacksmith)
3. Schneider (0.40%) (Tailor)
4. Fischer (0.35%) (Fisher)
5. Meyer (0.33%) (from Latin "major", the bigger one, referring to the name-giver's status, means "official" (mayor, police officer, sheriff, etc), "peasant", or from the Jewish surname Meir; 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%) (Wainwright, Wright; builder of wagons and carriages)
9. Becker (0.27%) (Baker)
10. Hoffmann (0.26%) (owning a farm)
11. Schäfer (Shephard)
12. Koch (Cook)
13. Bauer (Farmer)
14. Richter (Judge)
15. Klein (small)
16. Schröder (Taylor)
17. Wolf
18. Neumann (Newman)
19. Schwarz (Black)
20. Zimmermann (Carpenter)
21. Krüger (Innkeeper)
22. Braun (Brown)
23. Hofmann (Farmer)
24. Schmitz (Smith)
25. Hartmann (Strongman or Woodman)
26. Lange (Long)
27. Schmitt (Smith)
28. Werner (strong warrior)
29. Krause (Curly)
30. Meier (Major)
31. Schmid (Smith)
32. Lehmann (Vassal)
33. Schultze (Judge)
34. Maier (Major)
35. Köhler (Collier)
36. Herrmann (Warrior)
37. Walter (Harold)
38. König (King)
39. Mayer (Major)
40. Huber (Farmer)
41. Kaiser (Caesar)
42. Fuchs (Fox)
43. Peters
44. Möller (Miller)
45. Scholz (Judge)
46. Lang (Long)
47. Weiss (White)
48. Jung (Young)
49. Hahn (Rooster)
50. Vogel (Bird)

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

Greece

1. Papadopoulos/ou (priest΄s son, Peloponnese΄s region)
2. Pappas/a (priest)
3. Avramidis|(Abraham's) .
4. Georgiadis| (George's)

Hungary

1. Nagy (239,310; 'large')
2. Kovács (221,687; 'blacksmith')
3. Tóth (216,758; 'Slovak/Slav', also: 'Slovene', 'Slavonian')
4. Szabó (212,586; 'tailor', cf. Schneider, Couturier)
5. Horváth, Horvát (201,059; 'Croat')
6. Varga (139,764; 'shoemaker', cf. Schumacher, person working with leather)
7. Kiss (134,305; 'small', cf. Klein, Petit, Lepetit)
8. Molnár (109,178; 'miller', cf. Müller, Meunier)
9. Németh, Német (93,990; 'German', cf. Deutsch, Lallemand)
10. Farkas (83,346; 'wolf', cf. Wolf)
11. Balogh (80,113; 'left-handed', 'unskillful')
12. Papp (53,847; 'priest')
13. Takács (53,402; 'weaver', 'cloth-maker', cf. Weber, Tissandier, Teyssandier)
14. Juhász (52,495; 'shepherd', cf. Schäfer, Berger)
15. Lakatos (45,051; 'locksmith')
16. Mészáros (41,061; 'butcher', cf. Fleischer, Boucher)
17. Simon (38,481; <given name>)
18. Oláh (38,311; Vlach, 'Romanian')
19. Fekete (35,179; 'black', cf. Schwarz, Lenoir)
20. Rácz (35,109; 'Serb', also: 'Croat')
21. Szilágyi (31,986; from Szilágy county)
22. Török (27,206; 'Turkish')
23. Fehér (26,804; 'white', cf. Weiss, Leblanc)
24. Gál, Gaál (25,924; <given name>, 'Gallic', cf. Le Gall)
25. Balázs (25,804; <given name>)
26. Kis (24,613; see Kiss, above)
27. Szűcs (24,416; 'leather taylor')
28. Pintér (23,951; 'cooper', cf. Binder)
29. Kocsis (23,911; 'coachman')
30. Fodor (23,371; 'curly hair')

The above is official data of the Central Personal Data Processing Office at Hungary's Ministry of Interior in 2006.

Other frequent surnames:

Lengyel ('Polish'), Földes ('land-owner), Erdős ('woody', 'from the forest'), Erdélyi ('Transylvanian'), Vörös, Veres, Weöres ('red-haired'), Katona ('soldier'), Fazekas ('potter'), Király ('king'), Kántor ('church singer')

Notes:

• 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.
• Nationalities occur frequently as surnames, the pre-1920 Hungary being a multi-ethnic country. Because of this, there are also a lot of surnames of foreign origin. Some examples: Bauer, Mayer, Schmidt (German), Mravik, Novák, Zsilinszky (Slovak), Csernicskó (East Slavonic), Biszku, Marosán, Torgyán (Romanian), Nemcsik, Bencsics, Popovics, Petrovics (South Slavonic), Dobrev (Bulgarian), Kohn, Schwartz, Steiner (Ashkenazi Jewish)

Ireland

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. Doherty
16. Kennedy
17. Lynch
18. Murray
19. Quinn
20. Moore
21. Flood

Source: The Top 500 Irish & British Surnames, The Observer, 15th April 2007.

Names starting with O' and Mac/Mc were originally patronymic.

Italy

1. Rossi (red-haired; ruddy – common in Northern and Central Italy)
2. Russo (red-haired; ruddy – common in Southern Italy)
3. Ferrari (blacksmith; iron worker – cf. Smith)
4. Esposito (exposed child, i.e. foundling)
5. Bianchi (fair-skinned; fair-haired – cf. White)
6. Romano (Roman)
7. Colombo (dove)
8. Ricci (curly-haired – common in Northern and Central Italy)
9. Marino (of the sea)
10. Greco (Greek)
11. Bruno (brunet – cf. Brown)
12. Gallo (rooster; Gallic)
13. Conti (count)
14. Luca (son of Luca – cf. Lucas)
15. Costa (from the coast)
16. Giordano (equivalent of Jordan)
17. Mancini (left-handed)
18. Rizzo (curly-haired – common in Southern Italy)
19. Lombardi (Lombard)
20. Moretti (swarthy – cf. Moore)

Sources: Gens; Ancestry.com

The top 10 surnames cover about 1% of the population.

Latvia

1. Bērziņš - Diminutive of Birch
2. Kalniņš - Diminutive of Hill
3. Ozoliņš - Diminutive of Oak
4. Jansons - Son of Jānis,one of most popular male names in Latvia,John
5. Ozols - Oak
6. Liepiņš - Diminutive of Linden
7. Krūmiņš - Diminutive of Bush
8. Balodis - Pigeon
9. Eglītis - Diminutive of Fir tree
10. Zariņš - Diminutive of Branch
11. Pētersons - Peter's Son
12. Vītols - Willow
13. Kļaviņš - Diminutive of Maple
14. Kārkliņš - Diminutive of Sallow
15. Vanags - Hawk

Source: Latvian Institute.

Lithuania

Most common Lithuanian surnames, 2008:

Note: The Lithuanian language has different endings for surnames for men and women. The ending of a woman's surname indicates whether 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: Interesting Statistics, Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (Statistics Lithuania), Retrieved Sept 12, 2008.

Malta

Source: "Census 2005: A focus on surnames in Malta", National Statistics Office Malta, November 27, 2005. Source of etymologies: .

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

Source: , which refers to "Surnames in Malta: what can they tell us?" by Prof. Joseph M. Brincat. Source of etymologies: .

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.

Source: Nederlands Repertorium van Familienamen, Meertens-Instituut, 1963-1988. Data can be viewed in the Database of Surnames in the Netherlands, May 31, 1947.

Norway

1. Hansen
2. Johansen
3. Olsen
4. Larsen
5. Andersen
6. Nilsen
7. Pedersen
8. Kristiansen
9. Jensen
10. Karlsen
11. Johnsen
12. Pettersen
13. Eriksen
14. Berg
15. Haugen
16. Hagen
17. Johannessen
18. Andreassen
19. Jacobsen
20. Halvorsen

Source: Statistics Norway: Name statistics.

Poland

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 popular name Wojciech; from word "wojak" (warrior), from real estates Wójcza, Wójciki; from wójt, a noun describing chief officer of a municipality (gmina))
5. Kowalczyk (97,796, from kowal "smith", literally "smith's son")
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 wóz, "cart")
11. Dąbrowski (86,132; from dąb "oak tree")
12. Kozłowski (75,962; from kozioł "he-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 krawiec "tailor", "taylor's son")
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")
22. Jaworski (44,104;from 'jawor' "sycamore")

It is important to remember that Polish names which end with -ski or -cki have a male and a female form - Kamiński / Kamińska, Wielicki / Wielicka, etc. This needs to be considered when taking a count based on, for instance, scanning a telephone book.

Source: Zawadzki, Jarosław Maciej (2002). 1000 najpopularniejszych nazwisk w Polsce (1000 of the most popular names in Poland). Świat Książki. ISBN 83-7311-265-0. Template:Pl icon

Romania

1. Popescu (from popă "priest")
2. Popa (from popă "priest")
3. Radu
4. Ionescu (from popular name Ion)
5. Şerban (from "şerb")
6. Ilie
7. Iliescu
8. Diaconu (also "Deaconu")
9. Diaconescu
10. Dinu
11. Stancu
12. Stănculescu
13. Vasile
14. Vasilescu
15. Şerbănescu

It is important to remember that many Romanian names end in "escu".

Slovakia

Female form is from male form + ová (Horváth → Horváthová).

Sources: P. Ďurčo, Database of surnames in the Slovak republic, Paris 1998. Misplaced Pages - Slovak version.

Slovenia

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

Source:

Spain

1. García - 1,378,000 people (3.48%) (Of Pre-Roman origin, either Iberian or Basque. Garcia was a very common first name in early medieval Spain. It is a surname of patronymic origin, like most of the -ez ending Spanish surnames.)
2. Fernández - 851,000 (2.15%) (Son of Fernando, from Germanic Fredenand or Fridnand. Most of the common Spanish surnames originating from Germanic first names were introduced in Spain during centuries V-VII by the Visigoths, so almost all of them are from the Visigoth tradition)
3. González - 839,000 (2.12%) (Son of Gonzalo, from the Latinised form Gundisalvus, of Germanic origin)
4. Rodríguez - 804,000 (2.03%) (Son of Rodrigo, from Germanic Roderic)
5. López - 796,000 (2.01%) (Son of Lope, from Latin Lupus, meaning wolf)
6. Martínez - 788,000 (1.97%) (Son of Martin, also from Latin, derived from Martis, genitive form of Mars)
7. Sánchez - 725,000 (1.83%) (Son of Sancho, from Latin Sanctius)
8. Pérez - 709,000 (1.79%) (Son of Pedro, from Latin Petrus)
9. Martín - 459,000 (1.16%) (Martin)
10. Gómez - 440,000 (1.11%) (Son of Gome, Gomo or Gomaro, also of Germanic origin)
11. Ruiz - 321,000 (0.81%) (Son of Rui, variation or short for Rodrigo)
12. Hernández - 305,000 (0.77%) (Son of Hernando, variation of Fernando)
13. Jiménez - 293,000 (0.74%) (Son of Jimeno, from Xemeno or Ximeno, of Basque origin)
14. Díaz - 293,000 (0.74%) (Son of Diago or Diego, ultimately from Greek Didachos)
15. Álvarez - 273,000 (0.69%) (Son of Alvaro, from Alvar, also of Germanic origin)
16. Moreno - 261,000 (0.66%) (Brown-haired, tanned, brunet)
17. Muñoz - 241,000 (0.61%) (Son of Munio, of Pre-Roman origin)
18. Alonso - 206,000 (0.52%) (Son of Alonso, variation of Alfonso, from Germanic Adalfuns)
19. Gutiérrez - 170,000 (0.43%) (Son of Gutier or Gutierre, from Germanic Wutier)
20. Romero - 170,000 (0.43%) (walker, pilgrim)
21. Navarro - 158,400 (0.40%) (Navarrese, from Navarra; of Toponymic origin)
22. Torres - 134,600 (0.34%) (Towers; also toponymic)
23. Domínguez - 134,600 (0.34%) (Son of Domingo, from Latin Domenicus, ultimately from Dominus, meaning lord, master)
24. Gil - 134,600 (0.34%) (From older form Egidio; also patronymic)
25. Vázquez - 130,000 (0.33%) (Son of Vasco or Velasco, of Pre-Roman origin, either Iberian or Basque)
26. Serrano - 122,700 (0.31%) (Mountain Dweller)
27. Ramos - 118,000 (0.30%) (Branches; of patronymic origin, meaning 'born in or near the Christian festivity of Branch Sunday, or Palm Sunday')
28. Blanco - 118,000 (0.30%) (White)
29. Sanz - 106,900 (0.27%) (Variation of Sanchez)
30. Castro - 102,900 (0.26%) (Hamlet, castro)
31. Suárez - 102,900 (0.26%) (Son of Suero or Suaro, of unknown origin)
32. Ortega - 99,000 (0.25%) (From Ortiga or Hortiga, a type of common plant from the nettle family; of toponymic origin; also pre-dates Roman influence, yet the name has derived from Ortún, ultimately from Latin Fortunius, meaning lucky or fortunate one, either Iberian or Basque)
33. Rubio - 99,000 (0.25%) (Blond, fair-haired; ultimately from Latin Rubeus, meaning ruddy, reddish)
34. Molina - 99,000 (0.25%) (Mill, place with mills; toponymic)
35. Delgado - 95,000 (0.24%) (Thin man)
36. Ramírez - 95,000 (0.24%) (Son of Ramiro, from Germanic Radamir or Radmir)
37. Morales - 95,000 (0.24%) (Place with abundant blackberry plants; of toponymic origin)
38. Ortiz - 87,120 (0.22%) (Son of Ortún; ultimately from Latin Fortunius, meaning fortunate one, similar to Ortega)
39. Marín - 83,160 (0.21%) (From Latin Marinus, meaning seaman, sailor)
40. Iglesias - 83,160 (0.21%) (Churches; toponymic origin)

Source: - Data from December 1999. (2004 data confirmation of top 25)

Family names ending in -ez are typically patronymic

The top 10 surnames cover about 20% of population.

Sweden

• 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%)

Source: Official statistics.

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 indifferent of the previous tradition and carried as family names. Even though these "son-names" are the most common names in Sweden, a majority of the Swedes have other family names consisting of two items from nature, for example Lindberg (linden/lime mountain), Bergkvist (mountain twig), Alström/Ahlström (alder stream). Other names like Sjöman (Seaman) and Nyman (Newman) contain professions and adjectives. Many families also have military-oriented names as Skarpsvärd (sharp sword) Sköld (shield) and Stolt (proud). Those names were originally appointed to soldiers from 16th century and onwards based on either character, merit or inheritance (a professional soldier had the right to change his name to that of his predecessor). Due to 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 have surnames referring to their coat of arms and sometimes the names are also of non-Swedish origin.

The top 10 surnames cover about 20% of the population.

United Kingdom

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.

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

Greater London

The following list is for Greater London. Note the higher placings of names of Asian origin.

1. Brown
2. Smith
3. Patel
4. Jones
5. Williams
6. Johnson
7. Taylor
8. Thomas
9. Roberts
10. Khan
11. Lewis
12. Jackson
13. Clarke
14. James
15. Phillips
16. Wilson
17. Ali
18. Mason
19. Mitchell
20. Rose
21. Davis
22. Davies
23. Rodríguez
24. Cox
25. Alexander

Scotland

100 most common surnames from the General Register Office for Scotland (1999/2000/2001):

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. Morrison
18. Paterson
19. Young
20. Mitchell
21. Walker
22. Fraser
23. Miller
24. McDonald
25. Gray
26. Henderson
27. Hamilton
28. Johnston
29. Duncan
30. Graham
31. Ferguson
32. Kerr
33. Davidson
34. Bell
35. Cameron
36. Kelly
37. Martin
38. Hunter
39. Allan
40. Mackenzie
41. Grant
42. Simpson
43. Mackay
44. McLean
45. MacLeod
46. Black
47. Russell
48. Marshall
49. Wallace
50. Gibson
51. Slater

North America

Canada

In 2007, Canada was a country of about 33 million people, about one-fifth of whom lived in the province of Quebec. The twenty most common surnames across Canada listed below were compiled by InfoUSA and reported by the CBC. It should be noted that this study is unscientific as it does not account for cell-phone users, people with unlisted numbers or multiple people sharing a single telephone line. Unlike many countries, the Canadian national government does not publish a common surnames listing based on the national census; however, Quebec's provincial government does make such information available.

Mexico

According to the Mexico IFE as of 2006 these were the most common surnames in Mexico:

1. Hernández
2. García
3. Martínez
4. López
5. González
6. Rodríguez
7. Pérez
8. Sánchez
9. Ramírez

United States

According to 2000 U.S. Census data, the top hundred surnames in the U.S. are:

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. The name Smith also became even more frequent because of some Polish immigrants who anglicized the name "Kowalski" to become "Smith". 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 Williams, 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 represent the rapid growth of several Hispanic communities in the United States. The Vietnamese surname Nguyen made a dramatic leap from 229th in 1990 to 57th in 2000.

According the the 2000 Census, 13.97% of Americans have a surname which occurs fewer than 100 times in the population.

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

Oceania

Australia

All names were retrieved with number of people bearing the name from an Australian government resource, then sorted according to number of people in order to generate the table here.

South America

Argentina

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro

1. Silva
2. Santos
3. Oliveira
4. Souza
5. Pereira
6. Costa
7. Carvalho
8. Cavalcanti(e)
9. Gonçalves
10. Almeida
11. Ferreira
12. Ribeiro
13. Rodrigues
14. Gomes
15. Lima
16. Martins
17. Rocha
18. Alves
19. Araújo
20. Pinto
21. Barbosa
22. Castro
23. Fernandes
24. Melo
25. Azevedo
26. Barros
27. Cardoso
28. Correia
29. Cunha
30. Dias

Source:

Chile

Refers to first surname only.

Source: "TRES MILLONES DE CHILENOS FIGURAN CON LOS APELLIDOS MÁS COMUNES," Terra, July 22 2008.

References

1. Source:Top 7,000 Surnames of Japan
2. Source: Nationwide Top 10,000 Surnames by Tadashige Murayama. "The 2006 Japanese Surnames Research". Myōji-kan (苗字舘). Retrieved 2007-11-12.
3. http://technology.chtsai.org/namefreq/
4. http://www.minhkhai.com.vn/sachsach.html?ms=37830&PHPSESSID=4e28f3c74b5b621acc82837a9ba3fb7e
5. http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061208222415AAsxQ59
6. http://genofond.ru/about.asp?site_id=1582&part_id=2237&module_id=2335
7. http://www.nvi.gov.tr/11,Ana_Sayfa_Isim_Istatistikleri_Sun.html
8. http://www.nvi.gov.tr/content/attached/nvi/istatistikler/encokkullanilan5soyad.pdf
9. Wiener Sprachblätter, 2006, issue 4, p. 4. "Alles Gruber in Östereich und nicht Müller wie in Deutschland" (in German). Retrieved 2007-10-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
10. Date: January 1, 2001;Source: Statistics Belgium, Demographic Statistics.
11. Population: 10,296,350 (2001 census)
12. Heather Bowne (2005-01-16). "What's in a name?". ABC of Czech. Český rozhlas 7 - Radio Praha. Retrieved 2008-01-28. The most common surname in the Czech Republic is Novák, which is closest to the English "Newman".
13. http://www.dst.dk/Statistik/Navne/pop/2004.aspx
14. ^ "Russian name Ivanov is Estonia's most common surname". RIA Novosti. 24 April 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
15. http://www.siseministeerium.ee/?id=13440
16. http://www.linternaute.com/femmes/nom-de-famille/
17. http://www.day.az/news/georgia/82620.html
18. http://www.nyilvantarto.hu/new/letoltes/csaladnev2006.xls
19. Retrieved on 23 September 2008. Registration required.
20. Prof G. Wettinger
21. http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_view.aspx?id=1633&backurl=/themes/theme_page.aspx
22. ^ http://www.searchmalta.com/surnames/
23. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=caravan&searchmode=none
24. http://www.maltavista.ru/info/surnames
25. http://www.stat.si/eng/imena_top_priimki.asp
26. http://www.ociototal.com/recopila2/r_aficiones/apellidos.html
27. Most common surnames in Greater London, UK
28. CIA - The World Factbook - Canada
29. Statistics Canada (2007). "Population Estimates (April 2007)". Retrieved 2007-07-22.
30. ^ "Common surnames". CBC.ca. CBC News. 2007-07-26. Retrieved 2008-01-27. ...the source is a Nebraska-based company called infoUSA, which claims to have put together a directory of every telephone listing in Canada.
31. ^ "Estimation de l'effectif des 1 000 premiers noms de famille par ordre alphabétique, Québec, 2005" (in French). Institut de la statistique Québec. 2006-05-24. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
32. "Les 1000 premiers noms de famille selon le rang, Québec" (in French). Institut de la statistique Québec. 2001-09-14. Archived from the original on 2004-06-20. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
33. Qué tan ‘diverso’ es el Padrón :: Investigaciones :: esmas
34. Sam Roberts (2007-11-17). "In U.S. Name Count, Garcias Are Catching Up With Joneses". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
35. United States Census Bureau (9 May 1995). s:1990 Census Name Files dist.all.last (1-100).
36. IP Australia. "Search for Australian Surnames". Government of Australia. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
37. Nguyen is ranked 7th according to "Nguyens keeping up with the Joneses". The Age. 2006-09-04. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
38. http://www.genealogiafreire.com.br/incidencia_de_apelidos_de_familia.htm

See also

• List of most popular given names
• Family name affixes

Template:Lists by country

• Articles with dead external links from September 2008
• Surnames
• Lists of names