Surnames often tell the story of a person’s family history and ethnic roots and are indicative of cultural and geographical changes that have occurred over the centuries.

The United States is made up almost entirely of immigrants and their descendants; thus the popularity and dominance of particular family names may shed light on the migration patterns that shaped the country and its regions.

Ancestry.com examined phone book listings nationwide to determine the most common surnames in every U.S. state in 2023.

The map below shows the results of Ancestry.com’s research and provides an insight into the historical patterns that determine the popularity of names across the United States

Smith is by far the most common surname in the United States, ranking at the top in 40 states and in the top three in five others.

Like Baker, Fisher, or Glover, Smith began as an occupational surname for those who worked with metal; Its roots date back to the ancient Anglo-Saxon and medieval English periods.

According to Richard Coates, professor of onomastics at the University of the West of England, Smith remains the most common surname in the world. Englandand so it was “because in an English village the blacksmith’s work was the main specialized work – every village/manor needed it and it was important enough to ‘buy out’ a skilled man from the basic job of farming.”

The name was carried across the Atlantic by European immigrants, both during the first wave of English settlers and during the later period of English settlers. Irish And Scots migration.

prevalence in the 19th century^This and early 20’s^This centuries have given rise to many German According to familytree.com, immigrants are trying to assimilate by anglicizing their surnames as Smith, such as Schmitz or Schmidt. It has gained a wider usage area. Native Americans He wanted more English-sounding names when dealing with settlers, and a significant number of English Smiths owned slaves in the 19th century.^This This meant that it continued to gain wider use in the century. African Americans.

Besides Smith, Williams and Johnson are the most common surnames in the United States, with at least one of them in the top three in every state. Hawaii, California And new mexico.

Like Smith, these names were probably carried by British and European immigrants, Coates said. news week these have similarly dominated the UK for centuries.

Unlike Smith, Johnson is a patronymic surname, literally meaning son of John; Coates said this is because the name John was historically the most common given name until the late 20th century.^This Century.

Hawaii’s most common surnames – Lee, Wong and Kim – do not appear on any other top three lists in the United States. The name Lee is translated in English, Irish and Norwegian its origins, its prevalence in Hawaii is most likely the result of the Aloha State’s Asian influence.

When the then-sovereign state was annexed by the United States in 1898, plantation owners in Hawaii needed cheap labor, leading to an influx of immigrants, according to Boston University’s Korean Diaspora Project. Chinese workers from Canton and also Korea.

About 57 percent of Hawaii’s population is now Asian or Asian and one other ethnicity, according to 2020 Census Bureau data.

California had two Spanish surnames — Hernandez and Lopez — and they were in the top three of no other state.

But Garcia, the most common surname in California, remains popular in the United States as well. Arizona, NevadaNew Mexico and TexasAs well as names like Martinez and Chavez. This is due to the “large Latino population” in these states, according to Ancestry.com.

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