An analysis of nationwide telephone directory listings has revealed the most common surname in each US state, offering a new look at regional differences in family history.
Surnames often contain a person’s family history and ethnic roots, and their regional popularity reveals states’ immigration patterns.
Ancestry.com used White Pages records to determine which names are most common in each state and discovered some fascinating regional trends.
The genealogy website found that Smith is by far the most common surname in the U.S., ranking first in 40 states and in the top three in five other states.
The name Smith dates back to the early Anglo-Saxon and medieval English periods.
Other popular names that appeared on the map include Johnson, Williams, Lee, Garcia and Martinez.
And the Southwest has more variety in surnames than any other region in the US.
States with large Latino populations, such as Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona, often have families with surnames such as García, Hernández, Martínez and Chávez.
Ancestry.com used White Pages records to determine which names are most common in each state and discovered some fascinating regional trends.
America’s most popular surname, Smith, was once an occupational surname given to those who worked in goldsmithing, similar to Baker, Fisher, or Glover.
The name originated in England and came to the US when the first wave of European settlers came ashore in the early 17th century.
This name was widely used in Europe, and ultimately the United States, primarily because every city once needed a blacksmith to make tools, armor, household objects, and weapons, according to GeneaologyExplained.com.
As cities grew, so did the demand for blacksmiths, which would explain why so many families adopted the surname Smith.
Blacksmiths remained an essential part of local economies for centuries, allowing the prevalence of the name to persist for almost 1,000 years.
After the arrival of the English to America, more Smiths arrived during later periods of Irish and Scottish immigration.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was so common that German immigrants to the U.S. began anglicizing their surnames, such as Schmitz or Schmidt, into Smith, according to familytree.com.
Native Americans who wanted a more English-sounding surname also frequently adopted the name Smith.
Smith is by far the most common surname in the United States. Even stars like Will Smith carry this name.
And because many white Americans who owned slaves had the last name Smith, it was common for African American slaves to adopt this name once they were freed.
Ancestry.com’s analysis shows that the widespread history of this name is still reflected in the US today.
The 40 states where Smith is the most common surname span several regions, including the East Coast, Central America and the Northwest.
Johnson is the next most common name nationally, ranking first in five states: North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska.
It is notable that all of these states are in the Midwest. This name, which literally means “son of John,” established a strong presence in the eastern half of the country during the 19th century, according to Ancestry.com.
In the 1840s, families with the name Johnson were concentrated in New York and Ohio, with some living elsewhere in the East and Midwest. By the 1880s the name was widespread in these regions.
Like Smith, this name originally came to the US through European settlers and has prevailed for centuries.
Williams is the third most common surname in the US and ranks first in Louisiana.
This name also comes from Europe, brought to the U.S. by settlers from southern England and Wales who arrived in waves beginning in the 17th century, according to FamilySearch.org.
One of those settlers was Roger Williams, an English Puritan minister who founded the state of Rhode Island.
He arrived in Massachusetts in 1603, but was later banished from the colony for criticizing the Puritan government. He fled to what is now known as Rhode Island and established the city of Providence.
There are some regional differences in surnames that are not reflected on this map, according to Ancestry.com.
For example, families in the Northwest are more likely to be named Anderson than Brown, which is slightly more common on the East Coast.
The three most common surnames in Hawaii (Lee, Wong and Kim) do not appear in the top three in any other state in the country.
These names mainly come from Asian countries such as China and Korea. According to 2020 Census Bureau data, more than half of Hawaii’s population is now Asian or partially Asian.
This is primarily due to the influx of Chinese and Korean workers that followed the annexation of the Aloha State in the early 19th century.
The most common surnames in California included two that did not appear in the top three in any other state: Hernandez and Lopez.
And the name Sullivan ranked in the top three in only one state: Massachusetts.