Commonest USA Surnames

Names and last names are a very important part of our lives and identity. Last names, known before as family names, have passed from one generation to another in an unbroken line since the begging of civilization. There are many of them that are constantly repeated.

Every region has its own tendencies, this phenomenon is present in all languages and has been studied for philologists since late 19th century. Last name origin and surname meanings are also very interesting matters for domestic and foreign English speakers. English is the most widespread tongue around the world. English evolved from the Germanic and Saxon tongues that mixed up with Latin during the Roman Empire, and has become a universal code because of the worldwide influence of the United States, which is the greatest power of the contemporary age. But, which are the commonest USA surnames?



According with 1990 population census, the head of the list of the commonest USA surnames is “Smith” with about 2,501,922 people, more than 1% of the whole US inhabitants carries this last name. Some of the possible surname meanings are: the etymological, often associated with the word “blacksmith” that aims to an occupation that was very common several hundreds of years ago, however Smith also means: friendly, social, attractive or jovial. The surname origin is Irish or Welsh, and many Afro-American descendents inherited it from the time of slavery.

The second one is “Jhonson” with 2,014,470 people, 0,8% of US population. The last name origin can be traced to Medieval Scottland and the surname meanings are: “Son of John”, a tendency followed by Nordic tongues for family names. For instance: Erickson “Son of Erick” in Swedish or “Erickssen” in Icelandic; the name John comes from greek “Johan” which means: gods’ gift.
The third one is “Williams” with 1,738,413 people in the US. The surname origin is placed in 1066 after the Normand Conquers of England, it derives from the German first name “Wilhelm” related to “will” ( “wilo” in Germanic tongue) and means: willingness, love, desire or passion. The list follows with other common USA surnames such as: “Jones”, “Brown”, “Davis”, “Miller” with over 1 million Americans carrying these last names.