Common American Surnames

A list of the most common surnames in the United States

Years 2023, 2010, and 1990 compared to Year 1790

(From “Strong Names and Weak Names)

On the whole, in two centuries, the most common names in the United States have not changed all that much.  Smith is still the best name for signing into a hotel anonymously.  Johnson has moved up a notch to second.  And the top five at the turn of the 18th century are still in the top six.

Thirty-six of the original top fifty were still on the list more than two centuries later.  Of the Fourteen that fell from the list, nine (Stewart, Rogers, Reed, Cook, Bailey, Richardson, Bennett, Foster, and Russell) were still in the top 100 while just five (Cole, Stevens, Stone, Pierce, and Wheeler) fell further.  Notice the rise of eight Latino names into the top 25.

The biggest decline in popularity was the once popular Wheeler which fell from forty-fifth to 208th in ranking. Another notable decline can be seen with the name of Clark, once sixth most common, now merely twenty-seventh.  My guess is that the Wheelers and Clarks of the country either produced a lot of daughters or else chose prosperity over posterity and had few children.

But change did occur. Eight Latino names (isn’t it peculiar that Latino refers to Spanish-speaking people outside of Spain instead of Italians living in Rome?) were so common in the homelands that, with the continuous influx of immigrants, they became common in the U.S, too. As can be seen in the tables below, Latino names like Garcia, Rodriguez and Martinez have surpassed such starkly colonial names as Hall, Allen and Lewis in the census-kind of like the taco becoming more popular than the hot dog. 

25 Most Common Surnames in the U.S.
by Rank in Year 2023, 2010, 1990, 1790

2023    1 Smith 2 Johnson 3 Williams 4 Brown 5 Jones 6 Garcia 7 Miller 8 Davis 9 Rodriguez 10 Wilson 11 Hernandez 12 Lopez 13 Gonzalez 14 Wilson 15 Anderson 16 Thomas 17 Taylor 18 Moore 19 Jackson 20 Martin 21 Lee 22 Perez 23   Thompson  24 White 25 Harris

2010    1 Smith 2 Johnson 3 Williams 4 Brown 5 Jones 6 Miller 7 Davis 8 Garcia 9  Rodriguez  10 Wilson 11 Martinez 12 Anderson 13 Taylor 14 Thomas 15 Moore 16 Hernandez 17 Martin 18 Jackson 19 White 20   Thompson  21 Lopez 22 Lee 23 Harris 24 Gonzalez 25 Clark

1990    1 Smith 2 Johnson 3 Williams 4 Jones 5 Brown 6 Davis 7 Miller 8 Wilson 9 Moore 10 Taylor 11 Anderson 12 Thomas 13 Jackson 14 White 15 Harris 16 Martin 17   Thompson  18 Garcia 19 Martinez 20 Robinson 21 Clark 22 Rodriguez 23 Lewis 24 Lee 25 Walker

1790  1 Smith 2 Brown 3 Johnson 4 Jones 5 Davis 6 Clark 7 Williams 8 Miller 9 Wilson 10 White 11 Taylor 12   Thompson  13 Allen 14 Moore 15 Hall 16 Hill 17 Adams 18 Baker 19 Green 20 Lewis 21 Martin 22 Thomas 23 Parker 24 Wright 25 Young