#311 DOUGLAS From the dark or green river. #723 MONTES Habitational surname for someone who lived on or near a hill/mountain. #201 ARNOLD Power of the Eagle. What is the Ancestry Chromosome Painter/Browser? #276 HANSON Son of Hans. #60 REYES Literally translated to Kings, it refers to the phrase La Virgen de los Reyes, meaning the Virgin of the Kings. Mallinson knew that their choice was not a popular one for heterosexual American couplesshes a professor of sociolinguistics and gender and womens studies at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, and wrote a 2017 paper that, in part, analyzes patrilineal surname conventions. #689 ONEILL Son of Neill. Infoplease knows the value of having sources you can trust. #860 McMILLAN From the Gaelic surname Macghillemhaoil, meaning son of the monks servant. Historically, surnames evolved as a way to sort people into groups - by occupation, place of origin, clan affiliation, patronage, parentage, adoption, and even physical characteristics (like red hair). #507 IBARRA From the valley or hillside. #204 HANSEN Son of Hans. Garcia leapfrogged from number 18 to number eight, while Rodriguez went up from 22 to nine. #937 FRYE Born free. 2. #191 SOTO Lives in or near the small forest. By the 1400s, Anthony wrote, when surnames were more commonly passed down directly from parent to child, plenty of children took their mothers or grandmothers last name. #537 MARSH Family who lived near the marshland. They printed her a license in which Hernndez was listed as the middle name and Grande as the last name, shortening her name to Alcia H. Grande. Probably a habitational surname for a family who lived near tree stumps. #832 CORONA Literally means crown, but could mean several occupations: someone who made helmets or hats, someone who was going bald, or a follower of Christianity referring to the crown of thorns. Leslie Odom, Jr. Has Welcomed His Second Child. #409 DENNIS Family of Dennis. #457 POTTER Occupational surname for someone who made pottery. From the word engaingne (ingenuity). Few scholars argue that passing down a fathers last name is wrong for any given family, but the aggregate statistics point to an enduring patriarchal culture. #760 STRONG Descriptive surname for a person who was physically strong. #308 PEARSON Son of Piers. Aiden is Catholic, Adam is Protestant. #70 COOPER Occupational surname for a barrel maker. #270 SIMS Family of Simon. #553 PIEDA Habitational surname from several places in Spain. #948 BRANDT Family of Brando, literally meaning hot-tempered. In fact, data from a Census Bureau study reveals that the number of Hispanic surnames in the top 25 doubled between 1990 and 2000. #345 SCHWARTZ Person of dark or swarthy complexion. Variation of Suarez. #53 EVANS Family of Evan. #824 MORSE Family of Maurice. #950 DONALDSON Son of Donald. #217 RILEY From the rye clearing. (Neither the New Hampshire, New York, nor Texas DMVs responded to a request for comment.). #790 CUEVAS Habitational surname for someone who lived in or near caves. #196 GRANT Large, great. #837 ENRIQUEZ Son of Enrique. Cohen comes in on our list. Some states, such as Louisiana, maintain policies that enforce patrilineal surnaming as a default when the father is known and supports the children, unless both partners agree otherwise. #10 MARTINEZ Son of Martin. #796 STEIN Family of Stephen. #98 ROSS Scottish surname indicating someone who lived on or near a point of high land that juts out into a large body of water. #285 ROJAS Red-headed or ruddy complexion. #561 LAMB Occupational surname for a herder of sheep. #656 BARRON Occupational surname for someone with the title of Baron, or a nickname for someone who acts higher than his station. #316 FIGUEROA Lives near the fig tree. Literally translates to the willow woods. #835 McFARLAND Scottish surname from the Gaelic MacPharlain meaning son of Parlan. #373 THORNTON Lives in or near the town with thorns. By the same principle, Iceland has patronymic and matronymic systems that include both son and daughter suffixes that help people identify familial lines, which have existed for centuries. #785 BERGER Either Swedish surname for someone who lived near a hill or mountain, or French for a shepherd (Bergere). 2 Bd, 2 Ba. #756 MERRITT Habitational surname for a family who came from Merriott in Somerset, UK. #628 BRADFORD From the broad or big ford. Many signified a profession (such as Potter) or place of residence (such as Hilton, short for hill town). #229 CONTRERAS From the town of Contreras, Spain. The percentage of American babies born with the top 10 most popular first names for boys in their time has fallen dramatically in the past century, from 40 percent in the 1880s to 8 percent by 2015, a statistic that might reflect a rise in people using names to signal their identity. Courteous. ETHNONYMS: Afro-French, Black Creoles, Black French, Creoles, Cr oles, Cr oles Noirs, Creoles of Color. 15. #139 MARSHALL Occupational surname for someone who is a lawman or takes care of horses. Wilson 27. #67 GUTIERREZ Son of Gutierre. The most recent statistics we have for the Catholic surname is from the 2010 census data. #480 FARMER Occupational surname for a person who worked a farm. Rodriguez is the least white-sounding of all Hispanic last names. She teaches at the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh and the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. #88 MENDOZA People who live near or are from the village of Mendoza, Spain. #123 WALLACE Welsh or Foreigner. #446 WALTON From the walled town. 92.00%, or 92 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Black Only". 2 bed 2 bath 1408 sqft. The personal name meant something along the lines of "hound of desire" in Gaelic. #249 MALDONADO Ill-favored. #262 BISHOP Occupational surname for a bishop. #109 HENDERSON Son of Hendrick/Hendry. #271 ESPINOZA From the thorny area. #343 RHODES From a clearing in the woods #472 ZHANG Chinese surname meaning archer. #823 GLASS Occupational surname for a glass blower. Im going to go out on a limb and say Im not sure those are common conversations, she told me. #607 CONLEY From the Gaelic surname OConghaile, meaning son of the brave hound. #216 LANE Irish surname from OLaighin, meaning the descendant of Laighean. Many of the modern surnames in the dictionary can be traced back to Britain and Ireland. #190 STEPHENS Family of Stephen. #630 GALVAN Nickname for someone who had a receding hairline or was going bald. #213 ARMSTRONG Literally means strong man. Literal meaning unknown. 2022 Sandbox Networks Inc. All rights reserved. Infoplease is a reference and learning site, combining the contents of an encyclopedia, a dictionary, an atlas and several almanacs loaded with facts. The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. The Most Common American Last Names That Start With M. One of the most common surnames beginning with the letter M is Miller. It is an eternal promise that we, who, through our concupiscence, are so often wicked, can still be saved, no matter what we have done or how many times we have done it, by turning away from it . #667 ZAVALA From Zawada or Zawady, literally meaning fortress. Kelly is the English version of the Gaelic Ceallaigh, or "descendant of Ceallach," an ancient personal name meaning "bright-headed" or "warlike." It has origins in several different parts of the. #129 HERRERA Occupational surname for an iron worker (ferrier). $3,500/mo. Literally means from the wood grove of Augustus. #124 MORENO Brown-skinned. #671 HARRELL Nickname for someone with a good head of thick hair. O'Doherty 16. #683 DILLON From or near Dilwyn in Herefordshire, UK. #207 HART Irish surname, from the Gaelic hAirt meaning descendant of Art. #525 FRENCH Person from France. #879 PUGH Welsh surname from ap Hugh meaning son of Hugh. #56 PARKER Occupational surname for someone worked as a park keeper or game keeper. #875 AYERS Heir to a fortune or land. Doyle 13. ), This problem was apparently widespread enough that, in 2019, New York State passed a law to allow residents to choose two last names separated by a space. #312 SCHNEIDER Occupational surname for a tailor. #226 MATTHEWS Son of Matthew. #156 CRAWFORD By the river/ford crossing #412 RAMSEY Locational surname from the town of Ramsey, UK. From Ceallaigh. #227 PEA Lives near the rock or cliff. #331 BYRD Occupational surname for someone who worked with birds. Fitzgerald. #986 DICKSON Son of Richard. #161 GORDON Scottish surname meaning spacious fort or home. #614 CAMERON Nickname surname meaning bent nose. Such surnames include Roberts, Lewis, Phillips, Edwards, Evans, Cooper, Hughes, Rogers, Bailey, Scott, and more. (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races". To get the best possible experience using our website we recommend that you upgrade to a newer version or install another browser. If you find a surname in the list that is of interest to you, send a query to: Eileen Swanberg(<== Click HERE) about that surname, along with the Member number (s) from the search results. #28 RAMIREZ Son of Ramiro. Our editors update and regularly refine this enormous body of information to bring you reliable information. Learn more about the mythic conflict between the Argives and the Trojans. #934 RICHMOND Habitational surname from any of the towns in England or northern France with that name. #439 McGEE Gaelic surname meaning Son of Aodh, meaning fire. #836 HEBERT Illustrious soldier. #251 FRANKLIN Free man. #26 SANCHEZ Son of Sancho. #887 MOSES Born of a god. #448 TRUJILLO Family from the city of Trujillo, Spain. #111 GONZALES Son/Family of Gonzalo. #310 CORTZ Person with manners. In other places across the country particularly in the southwest Hispanic or Latino populations arrived with a completely different tradition of family names. #24 WHITE A family of light complexion or hair. Unusually for Irish names, the "O" prefix has held strong, with more O'Connors than Connors in both Ireland and America. #754 NOLAN From the Gaelic surname ONullain, meaning son or descendent of the Kings herald. #401 AGUIRRE From a prominent place. #245 HARPER Occupational surname for someone who played or made harps. #867 HANNA From the Gaelic Ohannaigh, meaning descendant of Annach literally meaning iniquity. #682 CALLAHAN From the Gaelic surname O Ceallachain. When two people with double-barrel last names have children, they each pass down the first of their two last names. #651 SWEENEY From the Scottish/Gaelic surname Mac Suibhne literally meaning young warrior from another land. #297 SCHULTZ Occupational surname for a judge or mayor. Literally means valley of the hare. (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic White Only". #134 AGUILAR From a place name, meaning Eagle. #102 JENKINS Son of John. #14 WILSON Son of William. Originally from the Latin Aurelianus, which referred to the farm or estate of Aurelius. #38 NGUYEN Someone who played a stringed instrument, similar to a lute. #568 MORTON Scottish surname meaning from the big hill. #244 VALDEZ Son of Valdo/Waldo. #315 NAVARRO Person from Navarre, France. #211 CUNNINGHAM Scottish surname from the Gaelic Cuinneagin meaning descendant of the leader. #508 BALL Descriptive surname for a bald man. #120 GRAHAM People who lived in or near a gravelly homestead a contraction of the name Grantham (like Downton Abbey) #634 WILKINSON Son of William. (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only". #475 VALENCIA From Valencia, Spain. #587 WEISS German surname element meaning fair hair or pale complected. Wassa was a feminine Anglo-Saxon given name. Cassia. #900 ASHLEY From the ash wood or clearing. #920 BLANCHARD With white hair or pale complexion. Black Creole culture in southern Louisiana derives from contact and synthesis in the region over nearly three centuries between African slaves, French and Spanish colonists, gens libres de couleur (free people of color), Cajuns . #834 BUCKLEY Lives near the goat clearing. 5.00%, or 5 total occurrences, were "Hispanic Origin". You might be surprised at how common a surname can be, even if its not one that you hear every day. #731 McCLURE From the Gaelic surname MIlluidhir, which literally translates as Son of Ordars follower. #588 UNDERWOOD Literally means below the trees of a forest, and could be a habitational surname. Today, women arent legally mandated to give their husbands last name to their children but U.S. bureaucracy has continued to enforce patrilineal naming conventions. Straight, married couples in the U.S. still almost always give kids the fathers last name. Identification. #709 TANNER Occupational surname for someone who tanned hides. #904 COSTA Someone from the coast or a bank of a river. #964 SPENCE Occupational surname for someone in charge of a pantry/goods in an estate. #511 BOWERS Occupational surname for a worker. For example, the actor Salma Hayek was born Salma Hayek Jimnez; her parents are named Sami Hayek Domnguez and Diana Jimnez Medina. Or a respelling of the Irish ODuilleain, meaning descendant of the blind one. Literally means black. #552 PATRICK Nobleman. In my case, my dad's surnames are "Dvila Estrada" and my mom's surnames are "Montero Caro" so mine are "Dvila Montero". Even if patrilineal surnaming does begin to lose some of its hold over the U.S., a single, perfectly equitable standard for surnaming is hard to imagine. #805 CHUNG Chinese/Korean surname literally meaning hanging bell flower. #144 WOODS Family who lived in or near the woods. #704 CANTU Occupational surname for a singer or cantor. In China, the share of women who pass down their family name is on the rise. the third son, after the father. #737 VANCE From a low marshland. #361 TERRY Power of the Theudo people. #388 SOLIS From the village or town of Soler. Given to a young person who was excitable or energetic. #62 MORRIS Dark-skinned, from the Moors. #214 HUDSON Son of Hugh. #179 SALAZAR From Salazar, Spain. We've got you covered with our map collection. As Deborah Anthony, a professor of legal studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield, outlined in a 2018 paper, surnames in England prior to the 17th century werent standardized. Given names become even more significant in the patronymic system, as in Scandinavia, where the given name of the father becomes the surname of . #664 BONILLA Lives in or near Bonilla in the province of Cuenca, Spain. Literally means fern-covered clearing. #339 GREGORY Possibly from Gregorian monks, literally means watchful, awake. #988 CANTRELL Occupational surname for a bell ringer (someone who rang the Chanterelles) or who sang in a choir. #721 BEARD Descriptive surname for a man with a very distinct beard. Dunne 28. #962 VU Vietnamese surname meaning fighter/soldier. #557 SHEPHERD Occupational surname for a herder of sheep. How Marriage . #341 SUTTON From the South. #921 HORNE Occupational surname for someone who carved objects out of horn, or made musical horns (usually made out of animal horn at the time). Trivia The name Kimada, which has six letters and is the inverse of Adamik, contains equal proportions of vowels and consonants. #583 MORA Blackberry. Surnames developed in Ireland as early as the tenth century, making them among the first in Europe. 14. #368 MILES Son of Mile. #309 CURTIS Person with manners. From Scottish settlers to Portuguese migrants, America is full of diversity including in terms of names. #619 PITTMAN Lives by a quarry or pit. #254 DOMINGUEZ Son of Domingo Catholic schools are proud part of the fabric of American education and civil society. This late Latin surname is derived from the Latin word candidus, meaning "white". For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Catholic was: Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals. #519 MOODY One of brave spirit. #295 WALSH Welsh, foreigner, stranger referring to Celt. #377 McKINNEY Form of the Gaelic Mac Cionaodha meaning son of Cionaodha (pagan god of fire). #294 DAY From the family of David. #670 CISNEROS From Cisneros in the province of Palencia, Spain. #20 MARTIN From the god of Mars. #854 MAYS Either family of Matthew or a nickname for a guy who is a good friend. #681 HANCOCK Son of John. #952 FAULKNER Occupational surname for a falconer or someone who trained hawks/falcons. #732 BEASLEY From the bent grass clearing. #943 PARRA Spanish/Portuguese surname, meaning grapevine/trellis. Possibly used for someone who grew grapes or had a winery. Alberto #184 RICE Welsh surname meaning fiery warrior based on the name Rhys. #769 KNOX Near a round-topped hill (cnoc) #803 CALHOUN Variant of the Scottish surname, Colquhoun, meaning nook or corner. Surnames could also come from places a hint that a name comes from a place might be the endings -field, -ford, -brook, or -wood, for example. These are called occupational names. In 2016, the researchers Charlotte J. Patterson and Rachel H. Farr compared last-name conventions among opposite-gender couples and same-gender couples who adopted kids, finding that 52 percent of adoptive same-gender couples opt to give their children a hyphenated version of both last names. #692 BELTRAN Spanish surname meaning bright raven. #83 CHAVEZ Occupational surname for a key maker. #346 NORRIS From the North. #464 CASTANEDA Literally translates to chestnut, and might have been used to describe a person with reddish-brown hair or worked a chestnut grove. As such, it should come as no surprise that the U.S. statistics for last names are influenced greatly by the number and ethnicity of the immigrants who have joined the ranks of Americans. For example, during the period before the American Civil War when slave-owning was legal, many indentured people were forced to take on the names of those who purchased them, such as Roberts, Jacobs, or even last names that denoted skin color (like White, Black, or Brown). #325 BATES Son of Bartholomew. #8 DAVIS Son of David. #852 FITZPATRICK Son of Patrick #292 BANKS Lives near hillside or ridge. #265 JENSEN Son of Jens Designed, directed, and managed high-quality marketing literature for medical education on procedures and products. Courteous. #443 NEWTON From the new town. #43 NELSON Son of Neil. #932 LEVY From the family of Levi. Literally means place of swans. Garcia jumped in popularity from the 18th-most-popular name in 1990 to the sixth-most-popular last name in 2010. #747 STAFFORD From the landing by the ford. #71 PETERSON Son of Peter. #106 BELL Occupational surname for a bell-ringer/news announcer. #46 RIVERA From the shore or bank of a river. #324 BARNETT From the place near the clearing (burned place). #566 OLSEN Son of Olaf. #812 BUCK Either descriptive or occupational surname for someone who resembled a male deer, or someone who traded in them. #653 WYATT Brave warrior. #542 STOKES From the Old English stoc meaning trunk of a tree. #828 BRAVO Brave, proven in battle. #718 KEITH Nickname for an offspring or young person. #283 WEBER German occupational surname for a weaver. NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/catholic-surname-popularity/. #702 McDOWELL From the old Gaelic surname, MacDubhghaill meaning son of the dark one. #327 CALDWELL Lives by the cold well. #410 ROBBINS Family of Robin. #987 REYNA From the French surname Rainer meaning army counsel. #938 SHEPPARD Occupational surname for a shepherd. If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. Creating a new last name from scratch, which would be shared among all members of the family, involves a lot of extra paperwork. #261 VEGA From the plain, meadow. #400 HIGGINS From the Irish surname Huiginn meaning descendant of Uigin (Viking). What Kinds of Clothes Do They Wear in Ireland? #936 LIM Chinese surname meaning forest. #584 VALENZUELA Habitational surname from several places named Valenzuela in Spain. #564 HESS Person with hood/helmet. Jennifer Moss (she/her) is the founder of BabyNames.com, author of The Baby Names Workbook, and Producer of The Baby Names Podcast. #329 LAMBERT From the bright land. Attention: This site does not support the current version of your web browser. https://www.thoughtco.com/most-common-us-surnames-1422656 (accessed March 4, 2023). #620 HUYNH Korean surname meaning bright or yellow. #861 SMALL Person who is short or small. #847 MICHAEL Who is like god? #848 CONRAD Brave counsel. Here are the top 1000 last names (surnames) in the United States, according to the most recent U.S. census. O'Brien 7. Naples, FL. #886 SAMPSON The sun. #850 BENJAMIN Son of my right hand. #580 HOOVER From the German Huber, meaning plot of land or farm. #714 GILMORE From the Celtic surname MacGille Mhoire, meaning servant of the Virgin Mary. #759 SALGADO Galician and Portuguese nickname surname for someone who was witty or wry, from the word salgado meaning salty. #357 BECKER Either an occupational surname meaning baker or used for a family who lived by a stream. #629 RICHARD Brave ruler. Other banal, structural factors have stymied more varied approaches to surnaming. #578 RANGEL Spanish/Portuguese surname, meaning unknown. NameCensus.com. #110 BARNES Someone who lived or worked in or near a barn. In many Spanish-speaking placesincluding Spain, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Mexicochildren traditionally receive the last names of both parents, creating a double-barrel surname. There . #625 MATHIS Family of Matthew. Yet even among heterosexual couples in which each partner keeps their name, the father still passes down his last name to the kids the majority of the time. The FamilySearch Library has digitized records for the years 1594 to 1924 from the main Cathedral in St. Augustine, indexes, and various transcripts. #391 CHANG Chinese surname with many meanings. #767 JACOBSON Son of Jacob. Several states, including Indiana, North Dakota, and Rhode Island, require unmarried mothers to pass down their surnames as a default (unless there is a paternity affidavit or written consent, depending on the state). #188 FERGUSON Son of Fergus. 1. #864 PECK Occupational surname for someone who dealt in pekkesa medieval measure of dry goods equal to 28 pounds. Kevin Clay. The share of women who themselves kept their surname after marriage was about 3 percent in 1975, when some states still required women to take their husbands name to register to vote. #829 NOBLE From nobility. #186 GARZA The heron bird. #728 HENSON Son of Henry. #48 MITCHELL Variation on the name Michael, meaning Who is like God? #869 RUSH From the place with reeds or occupational surname for someone who worked with reeds. #739 JOHNS Family of John. #898 FARLEY Habitational surname for one who is from any of the many English towns called Farley or Farleigh. #148 VARGAS From the pasture. #908 CLEMENTS Family of Clement. #468 MACK Son of #814 SELLERS Occupational surname for someone who was a merchant/seller. #734 SNOW Descriptive surname for someone with very pale skin or light blonde hair. #638 VELEZ Visigoth surname meaning vigilant people. #364 HAIL From the remote valley. #27 CLARK Occupational surname for a clerk. #923 QUINTANA Country house. #586 MEYERS Occupational surname for a mayor. When Hernndez Grande had kids of her own, she decided they should take the last name of her husbandwho is from Englandso that they wouldnt have the same experience she did. #16 THOMAS Son of Thomas. Smith seems to be at the top of the list of the whitest names, followed by Johnson, Miller, Brown, Jones and Williams. #736 PRESTON From the village with the priest. #405 SHARP Smart person. #804 SEXTON Occupational surname for someone who worked as a sexton, a warden of a church. #768 LESTER From Leicester, U.K. or the county town of Leicestershire. #189 NICHOLS Family of Nicholas. #958 BURCH Lives near the birch tree or grove. #757 MURILLO Lives near a boundary or wall. #779 CONWAY Irish surname from Mac Connmhaigh, a descriptional surname meaning Head Smasher or Mac Connbhuidhe, meaning yellow hound #838 HICKMAN Occupational surname for a servant of a man called Hick. Kelly 3. #527 McBRIDE Son of the servant of Brighid. #631 WALL Lives near a city wall or enclosure. #240 WATKINS Family of Walter/Watt The latter derived from the Middle English flo/fla meaning arrow, with the addition of the suffix er (one who does or works with). Jennifer entered the tech arena in the 80s as a software developer and database architect, and became a pioneer in the Internet industry. #698 KOCH German occupational surname for a cook or kitchen manager. The look and structure of the American family has transformed to include more queer couples, more unmarried couples, and more racially diverse couples, all of whom seem less attached to patrilineal surnames. #654 DALTON From the town near the valley, dale. #224 HOFFMAN German occupational surname meaning property manager. #282 WANG Chinese surname meaning king. #506 PATTON Son of Pat. Murphy 2. #459 MONTOYA From the hills and valleys. #332 CRAIG Lives near the outcropping of rocks. Jim McDermott March 01, 2023. iStock. #872 McCONNELL From the Gaelic MacDhomhnuill meaning son of Donald/Donal. It was a respectable movement involving the most responsible and accomplished people of France. #424 SWANSON Son of Swan or an occupational surname for a herdsman (swain). The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: " Murchadha"/" Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), . Literally means From the rich hill or mount. #221 DELGADO Slender, skinny. #528 POPE Occupational surname. #423 MOSS A contraction of the name Moses, meaning born of a god. #416 BLAIR Battlefield. #103 PERRY Son of Harry. #894 HERRING Occupational surname for a fisher or seller of herring (fish). #960 VO Vietnamese surname meaning fighter/soldier. #842 WALLS Someone who lived near or behind a big wall. Names today no longer denote a profession, hometown, or mark of ownership; instead, they reflect what a family values. Daly 25. Aarons Aaronson Abadi Abate Abeles Abelman Abelson Abend Abendroth Aberman Abrahamson Abramov Abramovich Abramovitz Abramowitz Abramowski Abrams Abramson Abt Acker Ackermann Adamsky Adel Adelberg Adell Adelman Adelmann Adelson Adelstein Aderman Ades Adler Agar Agron Aguado Ahrens Akerman Akkerman Aksamit Alhadeff Alman Almen Almon Alon Alper