100 Most Common US Surnames Origins and Meanings

Because personal census data less than 72 years old is protected by confidentiality, names are not entered into the databases used by the U.S. Census Bureau to tabulate statistics in various categories. For this reason, a surname study across the entire census population is not possible. Thus, this list of the most common surnames from the 1990 census was created by the U.S. Census Bureau from a sampling of 7.2 million census records gathered as part of an independent post-enumeration study conducted in the summer of 1990.

Why is this important? For the most common US surnames, the estimated population percentages from the sampling probably reflect the population at large with a fairly high degree of accuracy. However, the survey intentionally oversampled both blacks and Hispanics, so certain surnames such as Garcia, Rodriguez, Gomez, and Washington may be over-represented. Because the sample involved certain regional areas, it is also possible that some less-common surnames made their way onto the list because a large percentage of family members happened to live within one of the areas studied. Thus, this list is not an entirely accurate representation of the U.S. population in 1990 as a whole, although it is likely to be generally close. Either way, it's fun info.

Curious about how times have changed? Check out this list of the 100 most common US surnames from the 2000 federal census.

Most Common US Surnames By Rank

Rank	Surname	Surname Origin	Estimated Population
1	Smith	English	2,772,200
2	Johnson	English, Scottish	2,232,100
3	Williams	English, Welsh	1,926,200
4	Jones	English, Welsh	1,711,200
5	Brown	English, Scottish, Irish	1,711,200
6	Davis	English, Welsh	1,322,700
7	Miller	English, Scottish, German, French, Italian	1,168,400
8	Wilson	English, Scottish	934,200
9	Moore	English	859,800
10	Taylor	English	857,000
11	Anderson	Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, English	857,000
12	Thomas	English, Welsh	857,000
13	Jackson	English	854,200
14	White	English, Scottish, Irish	768,800
15	Harris	English, Welsh	757,800
16	Martin	English, French, Scottish, Irish, German	752,300
17	Thompson	English, Scottish	741,300
18	Garcia	Spanish	699,900
19	Martinez	Spanish	644,800
20	Robinson	English, Jewish	642,100
21	Clark	English, Irish	636,500
22	Rodriguez	Spanish	631,000
23	Lewis	English	622,800
24	Lee	English, Irish, Chinese	606,200
25	Walker	English, Scottish	603,500
26	Hall	English	551,100
27	Allen	Scottish, English	548,400
28	Young	English, Scottish	531,800
29	Hernandez	Spanish	529,100
30	King	English	523,600
31	Wright	English	520,800
32	Lopez	Spanish	515,300
33	Hill	English	515,300
34	Scott	English, Scottish	509,800
35	Green	English	504,300
36	Adams	English, Jewish	479,500
37	Baker	English	471,200
38	Gonzalez	Spanish	457,400
39	Nelson	Irish	446,400
40	Carter	English	446,400
41	Mitchell	Scottish, English, Irish	440,900
42	Perez	Spanish	427,100
43	Roberts	Welsh, German	421,600
44	Turner	English	418,900
45	Phillips	Welsh	410,600
46	Campbell	Scottish	410,600
47	Parker	English	402,300
48	Evans	Welsh	388,500
49	Edwards	English	377,500
50	Collins	Scottish	369,300
51	Stewart	Scottish, English	366,500
52	Sanchez	Spanish	358,200
53	Morris	English, Irish	344,500
54	Rogers	English	338,900
55	Reed	English	336,200
56	Cook	English	330,700
57	Morgan	Welsh	325,200
58	Bell	Scottish, English	322,400
59	Murphy	Irish	322,400
60	Bailey	Scottish, French	316,900
61	Rivera	Spanish	311,400
62	Cooper	English	311,400
63	Richardson	English	308,600
64	Cox	English, French, Welsh, Irish	303,100
65	Howard	English	303,100
66	Ward	English	297,600
67	Torres	Spanish, Portuguese	297,600
68	Peterson	English	294,900
69	Gray	English, Scottish	292,100
70	Ramirez	Spanish	289,300
71	James	English	289,300
72	Watson	English, Scottish	283,800
73	Brooks	English	283,800
74	Kelly	Irish	281,100
75	Sanders	English, Scottish, German	275,600
76	Price	Welsh	272,800
77	Bennett	English	272,800
78	Wood	English, Scottish	270,100
79	Barnes	English, Scottish	267,300
80	Ross	English, Scottish	264,500
81	Henderson	English, Scottish	261,800
82	Coleman	English, Scottish	261,800
83	Jenkins	English, Welsh	261,800
84	Perry	English, French	259,000
85	Powell	Welsh	256,300
86	Long	English	253,500
87	Patterson	English, Scottish	253,500
88	Hughes	English	253,500
89	Flores	Spanish	253,500
90	Washington	English	253,500
91	Butler	English, Irish	250,800
92	Simmons	English, German, French	250,800
93	Foster	English, French	250,800
94	Gonzales	Spanish	239,700
95	Bryant	English, Scottish	239,700
96	Alexander	Greek, English, Scottish	234,200
97	Russell	English, Scottish, Irish	234,200
98	Griffin	Welsh	231,500
99	Diaz	Spanish, Portuguese	231,500
100	Hayes	English, Scottish	228,700

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Powell, Kimberly. "Top 100 Most Common Last Names in the United States." ThoughtCo, Feb. 2, 2018, thoughtco.com/most-common-us-surnames-1422656. Powell, Kimberly. (2018, February 2). Top 100 Most Common Last Names in the United States. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/most-common-us-surnames-1422656 Powell, Kimberly. "Top 100 Most Common Last Names in the United States." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/most-common-us-surnames-1422656 (accessed May 26, 2018).