Family names can be unique or come in large numbers. In different countries some names are more common than others. This is a listing of common surnames (alphabetical by country names):
Most of Brazilian surnames derive from Portuguese surnames. The Portuguese started colonizing Brazil in the 16th century and brought with them many BlackAfrican slaves who were forced to work in Sugarcaneplantations and other intensive labor activities. Since these slaves were considered property of their masters, they usually adopted their master's surname, as well as their offspring. When someone's surname was unknown, not verifiable or considered unpronounceable in Portuguese language, their surname was usually registered as "da Costa" when living near the sea coast or "da Silva" (from the forest) if lived inland. The surname "dos Santos" (from the saints) was given to orphan children. This explains why these names (da Costa, da Silva, dos Santos) are so common and why, although the high degree of miscegenation between Portuguese, African and local Indigenous people, Portuguese names are so common. Other common surnames of Portuguese origin, such as Pires, Rodrigues, Lopes, Mendes, Fernandes - notice that they end with -es, not -ez as in Spanish, are also still very common both in Portugal and Brazil. Also many "New Christians" (converted Jews) who adopted names after trees (Pereira, Oliveira), geographic sites (Ribeiro, Matos), or animals (Coelho, Peixe), came from Portugal to Brazil to escape the Inquisitionperiod in Europe - note that these names are not Jewish in origin and are not a sign of Jewish ancestry per se. A new wave of European immigration came to Brazil in the late 19th and 20th centuries, mainly during and after the 1st and 2nd World War, and was primarily composed by Portuguese, Italian, German and Polish searching for better living conditions in the "New World", as well as Europeans of Jewish origin who were escaping Nazipersecutions.
In a different study (1987) which combined data from China and Taiwan (sample size of 570,000 persons), the outcome was a bit different. The number one Chinese family name was (李) Lǐ at 7.9% of the sample, followed by (王) Wáng at 7.4% and (張) Zhāng 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) Lǐ, (王) Wáng, (張) Zhāng, and (劉) Liú; the south was dominated by (陳) Chén, (趙) Zhào, (黃) Huáng, (林) Lín, and (吳) Wú. There were over 450 family names in Beijing, but there were fewer than 300 family names in Guangdong and Fujian. Apparently the distribution of the statistics was significantly affected by the bias from the Taiwanese data.
The most popular Danish family names all end with "sen", meaning "son". That means, that for example "Jensen" is "son of Jens", "Poulsen" is "son of Poul". An example: if Hans Petersen's father was Peter Sørensen, Hans' father's name was Peter, and his grandfather's Søren. His son would then be (first name) Hansen. This method of naming children was widely used up to the middle of the 19th century. Sometimes it was also common to give to girls names such as "Jensdatter" or "Poulsdatter", meaning daughter of Jens, or daughter of Poul. These names are now seldom seen in Denmark, but still widely known and used in Iceland (where the ending is -dóttir).
Nowadays, the "sen" names have lost their meanings, because women bear them too. It is not common anymore that Hans Petersen's son would be called Hansen, but more likely Petersen, although the old method is still used.
Source: Population Register Centre, 20 June2005. Percentages are based on the population of Finland on 21 June2005. #Virtanen - 24,204 (0.461%) #Korhonen - 23,721 (0.452%) #Nieminen - 21,841 (0.416%) #Mäkinen - 21,699 (0.414%)#Mäkelä - 19,674 (0.375%)#Hämäläinen - 19,518 (0.372%) #Laine - 18,908 (0.360%)#Koskinen - 18,058 (0.344%) #Heikkinen - 17,939 (0.342%) #Järvinen - 17,381 (0.331%)Most of the names of this list refer to the living place of the first holder of the name. Virta and Koski refer the original holder has located nearby a river. Mäki = hill, Järvi = lake, Niemi = cape. Hämäläinen means an inhabitant of Häme (Tavastia county). Heikki is a common man's first name.
#Martin - 235,846 (0.393%) - From Saint Martin patron saint of France (from Martius, Latin for warrior)#Bernard - 105,132 (0.175%) - From Saint Bernard, from Germanic for bold as a bear#Dubois - 95,998 (0.159%) - From the wood#Thomas - 95,387 (0.158%) - From Saint Thomas (Jesus' Disciple), from Hebrew for twin#Robert - 91,393 (0.152%) - From Germanic for bright fame#Richard - 90,689 (0.151§) - Rich/powerful#Petit - 88,318 (0.147%) - Small (size)#Durand - 84,252 (0.140%) - From Durandus (Latin for strong, lasting)#Leroy - 78,868 (0.131%) - The winner#Moreau - 78,177 (0.130) - Dark complexion (like Maures)#Simon - 76,655 (0.127%) - From Saint Simon, from Hebrew for Yehova heard#Laurent - 75,307 (0.125%) - From Saint Laurent, from Latinlaurens, Laurel-crowned#Lefebvre - 74,564 (0.124%) - The Smith#Michel - 74,318 (0.123%) - From Saint Michel, from Hebrew for Who is like God#Garcia - 68,720 (0.114%) - Spanish surname meaning grace#David - 61,762 (0.103%) - From King David, from Hebrew for Beloved#Bertrand - 59,817 (0.100%) From Germanic for bright and vigorous#Roux - 59,440 (0.099%) - Red-haired#Vincent - 57,351 (0.096%) - From Saint Vincent, from Latinvicens, winner#Fournier - 57,047 (0.095%) - Baker#Morel - 56,760 (0.095%) - Dark complexion (like Maures)#Girard - 55,642 (0.093%) - From Germanic for bold as a spear#André - 55,228 (0.092%) - From Saint André, from Greek for manly#Lefèvre - 53670 (0.089%) - The Smith#Mercier - 53622 (0.089%) - Trader/Shopkeeper
:data from 1995#Müller (0.95%)(Miller)#Schmidt (0.69%) (Smith, blacksmith)#Schneider (0.40%) (Taylor)#Fischer (0.35%) (Fisher)#Meyer (0.33%) (from latin "major", the bigger one, referring to the name-giver's status)#Weber (0.30%) (Weaver)#Schulz (0.27%) (regionally for mayor)#Wagner (0.27%) (builder of wagons and carriages)#Becker (0.27%) (Baker)#Hoffmann (0.26%) (owning a farm)#Huber (0.18%) (owning a farm of a certain size called Hube)#Klein (Small, Short)
Most of the names of this list refer to the occupation of the first holder of the name.
Notes: *The above is official data of the Central Personal Data Processing Office at Hungary's Ministry of Interior in 1998 [4] via [5]. *Beside the names, the number of their owners and their meaning is given. (Note that Hungarian surnames often show archaic spelling and occasionally employ obsolete words, especially for nationalities like tót or rác.) *In Hungary, the surname is placed first (see Eastern order).#Novak Another common Hungarian surname - not verified.
The name Cohen belongs to the members of the ancient family of priests (Kohanim, descendants of Aaron). The name Levi belongs to the members of the family of Levites, descendants of Levi.
3. Beth'-el: the name means House of God. Jacob, after he wrestled with an angel, changed the name of the place Luz to Bethel because "God is in this place." See Genesis 35:15
#Rossi - Red (hair, complexion)#Russo - Red (hair, complexion)#Ferrari - Smith#Esposito - Exposed (abandoned child)#Bianchi - White (complexion, hair, house, ...)#Romano - Italian for Roman#Colombo - Italian for dove (see also Cristoforo Colombo)#Ricci - Curly (hair)#Marino - Marine (near the sea)#Greco - Greek#Bruno - Brown (hair, complexion)#Gallo - Gaul or chicken#Conti - Count (nobleman)#De Luca - From/of Luke#Costa - Coast (near the sea or from a place named Costa)#Giordano - Jordan (surname)#Mancini - Lefthanded#Rizzo - Curly (hair)#Lombardi - From Lombardy#Moretti - From the latin surname Morus
The most common names from Tokyo northwards are Sato and Suzuki; the most common names from Kyoto and Osaka southwards are Yamamoto and Tanaka. (A list of the most common family names in all of Japan is at http://www.japanese-name-translation.com/site/top500_Japanese_family_names.xls)
Note: Lithuanian language has different endings for surnames for men and women. The ending of female surname tell is she is married or not. Last names of married women end in -ienė while of not married grils end in -ytė, -iūtė, -utė, -aitė.
Source: The Interesting Statistics, Department of Statistics to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania (Statistics Lithuania), 2005.
#Borg (11,868) - From the Sicilian city of Burgi or from Sant'Ambrogio #Camilleri (10,771) - Son of Camillus, second founder of Rome after the Gauls invasion (367 BC)#Vella (10,318) - From 'bella' Italian for beautiful#Farrugia (9,778) - From 'farrug' Arabic for turkey (animal)#Zammit (8,382) - Maybe from a Hebrew word meaning peaceful#Galea (7,442) - #Micallef (7,166) - Maybe from the name Mikali (Michael) or from 'mħallef', the Maltese word for judge (profession)#Grech (6,740) - From 'Graecus' Latin for Greek#Attard (6,453) - From 'attar' Arabic for pharmacist/physician#Spiteri (6,391) - Alteration of 'Hospitalieri', used for abandoned children (near the Knights' Hospital)#Cassar (5,985) - Maybe meaning castle keeper (Latin origin) or barber (Arabic origin)#Azzopardi (5,905) - Derived from 'A Safardi', meaning 'A Jew coming from Spain'#Mifsud (5,707) - Jewish surname #Caruana (5,577) - From Kairouan in Tunisia, a name which in turn is derived from the Persian word KârawânEtymology of 'caravan'#Muscat (5,288) - From Muscat in Oman or from Muscat grape#Agius (4,944) - Maybe from GreekHoly or maybe from Malteseold man or maybe referring to a pilgrim to Mecca#Schembri (4,226) - Greek surname#Abela (4,117) -#Fenech (4,111) - Maybe from 'fenek' Maltese for rabbit or from 'Fenici' meaning Phoenicians#Pace (4,017) - From 'pace' Italian for peace
The most recent complete count of surnames in the Netherlands is based on the 1947 census. Although this data is now dated, the relative positions of these surnames will probably not have changed much.
#Nowak (203,506; from nowy "new")#Kowalski (139,719; from kowal "smith")#Wiśniewski (109,855; from wiśnia "cherry")#Wójcik (99,509; from wójt, a noun describing chief officer of a group of a villages)#Kowalczyk (97,796, from kowalek "smithy")#Kamiński (94,499; from kamień "stone")#Lewandowski (92,449; from lewantyna "Levantine")#Zieliński (91,043; from zielony "green")#Szymański (89,091; from Szymon, equivalent to Simon)#Woźniak (88,039; from woźny, "apparitor")#Dąbrowski (86,132; from dąb "oak tree")#Kozłowski (75,962; from kozioł "goat")#Jankowski (68,514; from Janek, equivalent to John)#Nowaczek (66,773; from diminuitive of nowy "new")#Wojciechowski (66,361; from the name Wojciech)#Kwiatkowski (66,017; from kwiat "flower")#Krawczyk (64,048; from diminutive of "tailor")#Kaczmarek (61,816; from composition of kacz "duck" and the name Marek)#Piotrowski (61,380; from Piotr, equivalent to Peter)#Grabowski (58,393; from grab "hornbeam")
Source: Zawadzki J.M, 2002, 1000 Najpopularniejszych nazwisk w Polsce [1000 of the most popular names in Poland], Warsaw: Świat Książki
#Иванов (Ivanov) - "son of John"#'асильев (Vasilyev) - "son of Basil"#Петров (Petrov) - "son of Peter"#Смирнов (Smirnov) - "son of a quiet man"#Михайлов (Mikhailov) - "son of Michael"#Федоров (Fyodorov) - "son of Theodor"#Соколов (Sokolov) - "son of a falcon"#Яковлев (Yakovlev) - "son of Jacob"#Попов (Popov) - "son of a pop (Orthodox priest)"#Андреев (Andreyev) - "son of Andrew"
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 the United Kingdom 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 consisting of two random items from nature, for example Lindberg (linden/lime mountain), Bergkvist (mountain twig), Alström/Ahlström (alder stream). A very good example of the randomness of these nature-names is the surname Dalberg, meaning literally, "valley mountain". Other names like Sjöman (Seaman) and Nyman (Newman) contain professions and adjectives. Because of the greater diversity of these names each specific name is less common than most "son-names". Given the large quantity of citizens of foreign heritage it is a matter of time before their surnames will be present high up in the official statistics, especially when grouped together instead of listed as separate surnames because of slightly different spelling or omitted umlauts etc. Persons with ancestors of noble origin in Sweden often, but not always, have surnames referring to their coat of arms or non-Swedish names.
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)[12] has released a list of the top three most common surnames. The list is expected to be expanded in January 2007.
The distribution reflects the history of immigration into the country. Many immigrants from non-English-speaking countries Anglicized their names. Good examples of this are the popular Swedish name Johansson which was frequently changed to Johnson, and the German Müller which became Miller. Some very common Swedish names were so similar that only a minor change of spelling was necessary, such as Andersson and Jonsson, which is why these names are much more common in the U.S. than in the United Kingdom. Slavery also had an effect; names such as Jackson, Harris, Davis, Brown, and Jones are common among African Americans, since slaves tended to be given their owners' surnames.
ajax name search of the SSDI http://surnamecheck.com
;SourceHọ Và Tên Người Việt Nam ("Vietnamese Family and Personal Names"), compiled by Professor Le Trung Hoa, Social Sciences Publishing House (2005) [13]
