Family names can be unique or come in large numbers. In different countries some names are the most popular. Here is the listing (alphabetical by country names):

Table of contents
1 Argentina
2 Belgium
3 Bulgaria
4 China
5 Estonia
6 France
7 Germany
8 United Kingdom
9 India
10 Ireland
11 Israel
12 Japan
13 Korea
14 The Netherlands
15 Norway
16 Nuevo León, (Mexico)
17 Poland
18 Quebec, Canada
19 Romania
20 Russia
21 Serbia and Montenegro
22 Spain
23 Sweden
24 United States
25 Vietnam
26 See also

Argentina

Belgium

(on January 1, 2002)

  1. Peeters 33,273
  2. Janssens 31,529
  3. Maes 25,654
  4. Jacobs 20,229
  5. Mertens 18,927
  6. Willems 18,604
  7. Claes 16,822
  8. Goossens 16,202
  9. Wouters 15,950
  10. De Smet 14,491

These are all names of
Flemish origin; the most popular French name is Dubois (about 11,000).

Bulgaria

China

Main article:
Chinese family name
(based on statistics published in 姓氏人名用字分析統計 Beijing, PRC, 1990)
Chinese family names come in large numbers. In the 1990 study, the top 200 family names accounted for over 96% of the random sample of 174,900 persons, over 500 other names accounted for the remainder. The sample was taken from 1982 census data.
(王) Wang2
  • (陈) Chen2
  • (李) Li3
  • (张) Zhang1
  • (刘) Liu2
  • (杨) Yang2
  • (黄) Huang2
  • (吴) Wu2
  • (林) Lin2
  • (周) Zhou1
  • (叶) Ye4
  • (赵) Zhao4
  • (吕) Lu3
  • (徐) Xu2
  • (孙) Sun1
  • (朱) Zhu1
  • (高) Gao1
  • (马) Ma3
  • (梁) Liang2
  • (郭) Guo1
  • In a different study (1987) which combined data from mainland China and Taiwan (sample size of 570,000 persons), the outcome was a bit different. The number one Chinese family name was (李) Li3 at 7.9% of the sample, followed by (王) Wang2 at 7.4% and (张) Zhang1 at 7.1%, the study showed that the top 19 names covered 55.6% and the top 100 names covered 87% of the sample. Chinese family names distributed differently according to regions. The north was dominated by (李) Li3, (王) Wang2, (张) Zhang1, and (刘) Liu2; the south was dominated by (陈) Chen2, (赵) Zhao4, (黄) Huang2, (林) Lin2, and (吴) Wu2. There were over 450 family names in Beijing, but there were less than 300 family names in Guangdong and Fujian. Apparently the distribution of the statistics was significantly affected by the bias from the Taiwanese data.

    Estonia

    • Tamm
    • Mägi

    France

    • Martin
    • Bernard
    • Dupont

    Germany

    data from 1995
    Müller (9,5%)
  • Schmidt (6,9%)
  • Schneider (4,0%)
  • Fischer (3,5%)
  • Meyer (3,3%)
  • Weber (3,0%)
  • Schulz (2,7%)
  • Wagner (2,7%)
  • Becker (2,7%)
  • Hoffmann (2,6%)
  • (Data according to Kunze (1999): dtv-Atlas Namenkunde. München: dtv, S. 198)

    United Kingdom

    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]:

    1. Smith (1.15%)
    2. Jones (0.94%)
    3. Williams (0.66%)
    4. Taylor (0.53%)
    5. Brown (0.51%)
    6. Davies (0.48%)
    7. Evans (0.39%)
    8. Wilson (0.35%)
    9. Thomas (0.35%)
    10. Johnson (0.34%)
    11. Roberts (0.33%)
    12. Robinson (0.29%)
    13. Thompson (0.28%)
    14. Wright (0.28%)
    15. Walker (0.27%)
    16. White (0.27%)
    17. Edwards (0.27%)
    18. Hughes (0.26%)
    19. Green (0.25%)
    20. Hall (0.25%)

    India

    Main article: Indian family name

    1. Singh
    2. Kumar
    3. Sharma
    4. Patel
    5. Shah
    6. Lal
    7. Gupta
    8. Bhat
    9. Rao
    10. Reddy
    11. Jain
    12. Sastri
    13. Iyer

    Ireland

    top 20, see: [1]
    Murphy (#1)
  • Kelly
  • O'Sullivan
  • Walsh
  • Smith
  • O'Brien
  • Byrne
  • Ryan
  • O'Connor
  • O'Neill
  • O'Reilly
  • Doyle
  • McCarthy
  • Gallagher
  • O'Doherty
  • Kennedy
  • Lynch
  • Murray
  • Quinn
  • Moore

  • Places starting with O' were to start with patronymic.

    Israel

    1. Cohen (כהן)
    2. Levi (לוי)

    Japan

    Main article: Japanese family name

    1. (佐藤) Sato
    2. (鈴木) Suzuki
    3. (高橋) Takahashi
    4. (田中) Tanaka
    5. (渡辺) Watanabe
    6. (伊藤) Ito
    7. (山本) Yamamoto
    8. (中村) Nakamura
    9. (小林) Kobayashi
    10. (斎藤) Saito
    11. (加藤) Kato
    12. (吉田) Yoshida
    13. (山田) Yamada
    14. (佐々木) Sasaki
    15. (山口) Yamaguchi
    16. (松本) Matsumoto
    17. (井上) Inoue
    18. (木村) Kimura
    19. (林) Hayashi
    20. (清水) Shimizu

    Korea

    Main article: Korean name#Family names

    1. 김 (Kim, Gim)
    2. 이 (Lee, Yi, I)
    3. 박 (Park, Pak, Bak)
    4. 최 (Choi, Choe)
    5. 정 (Jung, Chung, Jeong)
    6. 강 (Gang, Kang)
    7. 조 (Cho, Jo)
    8. 윤 (Yoon, Yun)
    9. 장 (Jang, Chang)
    10. 임 (Lim, Im)
    11. 한 (Han)
    12. 신 (Shin, Sin)
    13. 서 (Suh, Seo)
    14. 권 (Kwon, Gwon)
    15. 손 (Son)
    16. 황 (Whang, Hwang)
    17. 송 (Song)
    18. 안 (Ahn, An)
    19. 유 (Yoo, Yu)
    20. 홍 (Hong)

    Korean surnames have a variety in how they are
    Romanized.

    The Netherlands

    from the 1947 census

    De Jong 55,256
  • De Vries 49,298
  • Jansen 49,213
  • Van den Berg 37,678 (including Van der Berg and Van de Berg)
  • Bakker 37,483
  • Van Dijk 36,578
  • Visser 34,721
  • Janssen 32,824
  • Smit 29,783
  • Meijer, Meyer 28,256

  • Source: Meertens Instituut

    Norway

    1. Hansen (1.31%)
    2. Olsen (1.21%)
    3. Johansen (1.21%)
    4. Larsen (0.90%)
    5. Andersen (0.88%)
    6. Nilsen (0.83%)
    7. Pedersen (0.82%)
    8. Kristiansen (0.55%)
    9. Jensen (0.54%)
    10. Karlsen (0.50%)
    11. Johnsen (0.48%)
    12. Pettersen (0.47%)
    13. Eriksen (0.44%)
    14. Berg (0.41%)
    15. Haugen (0.32%)
    16. Hagen (0.32%)
    17. Johannessen (0.31%)
    18. Andreassen (0.28%)
    19. Jacobsen (0.27%)
    20. Halvorsen (0.27%)
    Names ending in sen are originally
    patronymic.
    Source: Statistics Norway

    Nuevo León, (Mexico)

    1. Martínez (8.50%)
    2. Rodríguez (8.14%)
    3. García (7.14%)
    4. González (7.09%)
    5. Hernández (7.06%)

    Source: GARCÍA, Miriam
    Para regios...los Martínez Periódico El Norte 18 de marzo de 2003.

    Poland

    1. Nowak (203 506)
    2. Kowalski (139 719)
    3. Wiśniewski (109 855)
    4. Wójcik (99 509)
    5. Kowalczyk (97 796)
    6. Kamiński (94 499)
    7. Lewandowski (92 449)
    8. Zieliński (91 043)
    9. Szymański (89 091)
    10. Woźniak (88 039)
    11. Dąbrowski (86 132)
    12. Kozłowski (75 962)
    13. Jankowski (68 514)
    14. Mazur (66 773)
    15. Wojciechowski (66 361)
    16. Kwiatkowski (66 017)
    17. Krawczyk (64 048)
    18. Kaczmarek (61 816)
    19. Piotrowski (61 380)
    20. Grabowski (58 393)
    Source: Zawadzki J.M, 2002, 1000 Najpopularniejszych nazwisk w Polsce [1000 of the most popular names in Poland], Warsaw: Świat Książki

    Quebec, Canada

    The 50 most popular surnames in
    Quebec
    1. Tremblay (1.13%)
    2. Gagnon (0.82%)
    3. Roy (0.77%)
    4. Côté (0.74%)
    5. Bouchard (0.56%)
    6. Gauthier (0.55%)
    7. Morin (0.51%)
    8. Lavoie (0.49%)
    9. Fortin (0.47%)
    10. Gagné (0.47%)
    11. Pelletier (0.45%)
    12. Bélanger (0.44%)
    13. Bergeron (0.41%)
    14. Lévesque (0.41%)
    15. Simard (0.38%)
    16. Girard (0.37%)
    17. Leblanc (0.37%)
    18. Boucher (0.35%)
    19. Ouellet (0.34%)
    20. Caron (0.32%)
    21. Beaulieu (0.31%)
    22. Poirier (0.31%)
    23. Dubé (0.31%)
    24. Cloutier (0.31%)
    25. Fournier (0.30%)
    26. Lapointe (0.30%)
    27. Lefebvre (0.29%)
    28. Poulin (0.28%)
    29. Nadeau (0.28%)
    30. Martin (0.27%)
    31. St-Pierre (0.27%)
    32. Martel (0.26%)
    33. Grenier (0.26%)
    34. Landry (0.26%)
    35. Lessard (0.26%)
    36. Leclerc (0.25%)
    37. Bédard (0.25%)
    38. Bernier (0.24%)
    39. Couture (0.24%)
    40. Richard (0.23%)
    41. Michaud (0.23%)
    42. Desjardins (0.23%)
    43. Hébert (0.22%)
    44. Blais (0.22%)
    45. Turcotte (0.22%)
    46. Savard (0.22%)
    47. Lachance (0.22%)
    48. Parent (0.22%)
    49. Demers (0.21%)
    50. Gosselin (0.21%)
    Percentage of total population: 17.82%

    Sources: Institut de la statistique du Québec, Quelques Statistiques sur les Noms de Famille and Les 6 000 premiers noms de famille par ordre alphabétique, Québec

    Romania

    1. Popescu
    2. Popa
    3. Radu
    4. Ionescu
    5. Şerban
    6. Matei
    7. Stoica
    8. Gheorghe
    9. Constantin
    10. Stan
    11. Dumitrescu
    12. Mihai
    13. Ioniţă
    14. Dumitru
    15. Dinu
    16. Tudor
    17. Dobre
    18. Barbu
    19. Ştefan
    20. Florea
    21. Ene
    22. Vasile
    23. Marin
    24. Ghiţă
    25. Georgescu

    Russia

    Source
    1000 sirnames of Krasnoyarsk
    1. Иванов (Ivanov)
    2. Кузнецов (Kuznetsov)
    3. Попов (Popov)
    4. Петров (Petrov)
    5. Васильев (Vasiljev)
    6. Смирнов (Smirnov)
    7. Козлов (Kozlov)
    8. Михайлов (Mihajlov)
    9. Семенов (Semenov)
    10. Степанов (Stepanov)

    Serbia and Montenegro

    • Petrović
    • Jovanović

    Spain

    Source: [1] - Data from December 1999.
    García - 1,378,000 people (3.48%)
  • Fernández - 851,000 (2.15%)
  • González - 839,000 (2.12%)
  • Rodríguez - 804,000 (2.03%)
  • López - 796,000 (2.01%)
  • Martínez - 788,000 (1.97%)
  • Sánchez - 725,000 (1.83%)
  • Pérez - 709,000 (1.79%)
  • Martín - 459,000 (1.16%)
  • Gómez - 440,000 (1.11%)
  • Ruiz - 321,000 (0.81%)
  • Hernández - 305,000 (0.77%)
  • Jiménez - 293,000 (0.74%)
  • Díez - 293,000 (0.74%)
  • Álvarez - 273,000 (0.69%)
  • Moreno - 261,000 (0.66%)
  • Muñoz - 241,000 (0.61%)
  • Alonso - 206,000 (0.52%)
  • Gutiérrez - 170,000 (0.43%)
  • Romero - 170,000 (0.43%)
  • Navarro - 158,400 (0.40%)
  • Torres - 134,600 (0.34%)
  • Domínguez - 134,600 (0.34%)
  • Gil - 134,600 (0.34%)
  • Vázquez - 130,000 (0.33%)
  • Serrano - 122,700 (0.31%)
  • Ramos - 118,000 (0.30%)
  • Blanco - 118,000 (0.30%)
  • Sanz - 106,900 (0.27%)
  • Castro - 102,900 (0.26%)
  • Suárez - 102,900 (0.26%)
  • Ortega - 99,000 (0.25%)
  • Rubio - 99,000 (0.25%)
  • Molina - 99,000 (0.25%)
  • Delgado - 95,000 (0.24%)
  • Ramírez - 95,000 (0.24%)
  • Morales - 95,000 (0.24%)
  • Ortiz - 87,120 (0.22%)
  • Marín - 83,160 (0.21%)
  • Iglesias - 83,160 (0.21%)

  • Family names ending in -ez are typically patronymic

    Sweden

    official statistics
    • 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%)

    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 exactly as in e.g. USA or Great Britain and women also receive "son-names". Compare this with the "mac-names" in Scotland. Even though these "son-names" are the most common names in Sweden, a majority of the Swedes have other family names such as Lindberg (linden/lime mountain), Sjöman (Seaman) and Nyman (Newman), but because of the greater diversity of these names each specific name is less common than most "son-names". Noble persons in Sweden often, but not always, have surnames refering to their coat of arms or non-swedish names.

    United States

    see Census data
    (Numbers in parenthesis are percentage of population with that name.)
    Smith (1.006%, #1)
  • Johnson (0.810%)
  • Williams (0.699%)
  • Jones (0.621%)
  • Brown (0.621%)
  • Davis (0.480%)
  • Miller (0.424%)
  • Wilson (0.339%)
  • Moore (0.312%)
  • Taylor (0.311%)
  • Anderson (0.311%)
  • Thomas (0.311%)
  • Jackson (0.310%)
  • White (0.279%)
  • Harris (0.275%)
  • Martin (0.273%)
  • Thompson (0.269%)
  • Garcia (0.254%)
  • Martinez (0.234%)
  • Robinson (0.233%)
  • The distribution of family names in the U.S. reflects the history of immigration into the country. Many immigrants from non English speaking countries adopted English family names. Good examples of this are the popular Swedish name Johanson which was frequently changed to Johnson, and the German Müller changed to Miller. This is why these names are much more common in the U.S. than in Great Britain.

    Vietnam

    • Nguyễn (Nguyen)

    See also