Smith is first among the most common last names in America, carried by 2,369,644 people, or 792.8 for every 100,000 residents. That is roughly one person in 126, with Johnson (1,858,234) and Williams (1,561,395) behind it.
The ranking uses the Census Bureau’s 2020 count, published in April 2026, and sets each name’s 2010 and 2000 rank beside it. Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones have held the first five places in that order since 2000, and the top ten names together cover 4.7 percent of the population.
The Top 10 Surnames by 2020 Count, Rate per 100,000 and Earlier Rank
| # | Last name | 2020 count | Per 100,000 | 2010 rank | 2000 rank | Largest group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Smith | 2,369,644 | 792.8 | 1 | 1 | White 68.0% |
| 2 | Johnson | 1,858,234 | 621.7 | 2 | 2 | White 56.8% |
| 3 | Williams | 1,561,395 | 522.4 | 3 | 3 | Black 46.2% |
| 4 | Brown | 1,386,083 | 463.7 | 4 | 4 | White 55.4% |
| 5 | Jones | 1,383,250 | 462.8 | 5 | 5 | White 53.1% |
| 6 | Garcia | 1,149,510 | 384.6 | 6 | 8 | Hispanic 91.2% |
| 7 | Miller | 1,129,186 | 377.8 | 7 | 6 | White 81.5% |
| 8 | Rodriguez | 1,085,838 | 363.3 | 9 | 9 | Hispanic 93.0% |
| 9 | Davis | 1,074,448 | 359.5 | 8 | 7 | White 59.6% |
| 10 | Martinez | 1,039,848 | 347.9 | 10 | 11 | Hispanic 92.1% |
Most Common Last Names in America, Ranked From Smith to Martinez
Each entry gives the 2020 count, the rate per 100,000 people, the change since 2010 and the earlier ranks. The group shares are computed from the Bureau’s counts for each name. Hispanic means Hispanic or Latino of any race, and every other group is non-Hispanic.
1. Smith: One Person in Every 126
2020 count: 2,369,644 · Per 100,000: 792.8 · Change since 2010: -73,333 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 1 and 1
Smith has topped every Census Bureau surname release, and its 2020 count sits close to the 2,376,206 recorded in 2000. The name lost 73,333 people since 2010. Its rate per 100,000 slid from 880.9 in 2000 to 792.8 because the population grew faster. The name is occupational, from the Old English smith, a metalworker.
Of the 2,369,644 people named Smith, 1,611,236 (68.0 percent) are White and 535,967 (22.6 percent) are Black. Another 4.4 percent report two or more races and 3.5 percent are Hispanic.
2. Johnson: The Steady Runner-Up
2020 count: 1,858,234 · Per 100,000: 621.7 · Change since 2010: -74,578 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 2 and 2
Johnson has stayed second through three censuses and trails Smith by 511,410 people. Its count is only 1,074 above the 1,857,160 of 2000, even though it peaked at 1,932,812 in 2010. The name is a patronymic, meaning son of John.
Black people are 33.6 percent of the name (623,699), the second-largest Black group under any top-ten name after Williams. White people are 56.8 percent (1,055,206), two or more races 4.7 percent, Hispanic 3.3 percent, American Indian or Alaska Native 0.9 percent and Asian or Pacific Islander 0.7 percent.
3. Williams: A Name Split Almost Evenly
2020 count: 1,561,395 · Per 100,000: 522.4 · Change since 2010: -63,857 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 3 and 3
Williams has been third since 2000. It grew from 1,534,042 to 1,625,252 by 2010 and then eased to 1,561,395. The name is a patronymic, meaning son of William.
No other top-ten name is this balanced. Black people make up 46.2 percent (721,683), the biggest Black group under any of the ten, and White people 43.8 percent (684,271), a gap of 37,412. The remaining 10.0 percent is two or more races at 5.1 percent, Hispanic at 3.5 percent, American Indian or Alaska Native at 0.8 percent and Asian or Pacific Islander at 0.6 percent.
4. Brown: Ahead of Jones by 2,833
2020 count: 1,386,083 · Per 100,000: 463.7 · Change since 2010: -50,943 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 4 and 4
Fourth and fifth place are the tightest contest in the top ten: Brown has 1,386,083 people and Jones 1,383,250. It began as a nickname for someone with brown hair or skin, so it describes a person rather than a father or a trade.
White people account for 55.4 percent of the name (768,332) and Black people for 34.7 percent (480,749). Two or more races make up 4.8 percent, Hispanic origin 3.5 percent, American Indian or Alaska Native 0.8 percent and Asian or Pacific Islander 0.7 percent.
5. Jones: Welsh Roots, Fifth Place Since 2000
2020 count: 1,383,250 · Per 100,000: 462.8 · Change since 2010: -42,220 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 5 and 5
Jones comes from Jon, a medieval variant of John, and it is the most common surname in Wales. Its 1,383,250 people are 20,495 more than in 2000 but 42,220 fewer than in 2010, and its rate per 100,000 fell from 505.2 to 462.8 over the two decades.
Black people are 37.2 percent of the name (514,871), the second-highest Black share in the top ten after Williams. White people are 53.1 percent (733,895). The rest is 4.9 percent two or more races, 3.3 percent Hispanic, 0.9 percent American Indian or Alaska Native and 0.6 percent Asian or Pacific Islander.
6. Garcia: Past Miller and Davis Since 2000
2020 count: 1,149,510 · Per 100,000: 384.6 · Change since 2010: -16,610 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 6 and 8
Garcia is the highest-ranked Hispanic surname. Its count rose 33.9 percent from 858,289 in 2000, which lifted it from eighth to sixth and ahead of both Miller and Davis, and it has held sixth since 2010. The name is a patronymic from a given name that was very common in early medieval Iberia.
Hispanic people are 91.2 percent of the name (1,048,319). White people are 5.7 percent, Asian or Pacific Islander 1.6 percent, Black 0.5 percent, American Indian or Alaska Native 0.5 percent and two or more races 0.4 percent.
7. Miller: A Grain Miller’s Name, 81.5 Percent White
2020 count: 1,129,186 · Per 100,000: 377.8 · Change since 2010: -32,251 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 7 and 6
Miller’s count has barely moved in two decades: 1,129,186 now, against 1,127,803 in 2000 and 1,161,437 in 2010. Garcia’s climb pushed it from sixth to seventh. The name describes a person who owned or worked in a grain mill, from the Middle English mille.
White people are 81.5 percent of the name (919,905), the highest White share in the top ten. Black people are 10.5 percent (118,120), two or more races 3.7 percent, Hispanic 3.1 percent, Asian or Pacific Islander 0.7 percent and American Indian or Alaska Native 0.6 percent.
8. Rodriguez: 35 Percent Larger Than in 2000
2020 count: 1,085,838 · Per 100,000: 363.3 · Change since 2010: -9,086 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 9 and 9
Rodriguez grew 35.0 percent from 804,240 in 2000, the biggest rise among the ten. It lost just 9,086 people since 2010, the smallest drop in the table, and that held it above Davis, moving it from ninth to eighth. The name means son of Rodrigo.
Hispanic people are 93.0 percent of the name (1,010,137), the highest Hispanic share of the three Spanish names in the top ten. White people are 5.1 percent, Asian or Pacific Islander 0.7 percent, Black 0.6 percent, two or more races 0.3 percent and American Indian or Alaska Native 0.2 percent.
9. Davis: Overtaken by Garcia and Rodriguez
2020 count: 1,074,448 · Per 100,000: 359.5 · Change since 2010: -41,909 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 8 and 7
Davis was seventh in 2000, eighth in 2010 and is ninth now, so it has dropped behind both Garcia and Rodriguez. Its count is 2,113 above the 2000 figure, after a high of 1,116,357 in 2010. The name is usually read as son of David, though a Welsh origin tied to Dyfed has also been proposed.
White people are 59.6 percent of the name (640,545) and Black people 30.8 percent (330,935). Two or more races account for 4.7 percent, Hispanic origin 3.4 percent, American Indian or Alaska Native 0.8 percent and Asian or Pacific Islander 0.6 percent.
10. Martinez: The Name That Pushed Wilson Out
2020 count: 1,039,848 · Per 100,000: 347.9 · Change since 2010: -20,311 · Rank in 2010 and 2000: 10 and 11
Martinez was 11th in 2000 and reached tenth in 2010, when Wilson fell to 14th, where it still stands. The 2020 count is 34.2 percent above the 775,072 of 2000 and 25,953 ahead of Hernandez in 11th. The name began as a patronymic meaning son of Martin.
Hispanic people are 92.1 percent of the name (958,125). White people are 5.6 percent, Asian or Pacific Islander 0.7 percent, Black 0.6 percent, American Indian or Alaska Native 0.6 percent and two or more races 0.4 percent.
What 792.8 per 100,000 Means for Your Town or Classroom
A rate per 100,000 turns a raw count into a share you can scale. A town of 10,000 people that matched the national rate would hold about 79 Smiths, and a school of 1,000 students about eight. The ten names together reach 4,696 per 100,000, which is the 4.7 percent of the population the Census Bureau reports.
The rate also exposes what a flat count hides. Smith has 6,562 fewer people than in 2000, yet its rate fell 10.0 percent, from 880.9 to 792.8, because the country grew. Concentration has barely shifted: 258 names cover a quarter of the population, against 239 in 2010.
Spanish Surnames Climbed While the Other Seven Names Slid
Comparing each rate per 100,000 in 2000 and 2020 splits the top ten in two. The other seven names lost between 8.1 percent (Williams) and 10.0 percent (Smith), while Garcia, Rodriguez and Martinez gained between 20.9 and 21.9 percent. Every one of the ten had fewer people in 2020 than in 2010, but the 2020 file covers 90.2 percent of the population against 95.5 percent in 2010, so part of that fall is coverage.
The climb continues just below the top ten. Hernandez rose from 15th to 11th with 43.5 percent more people than in 2000 (1,013,895 against 706,372), Lopez from 21st to 12th with 41.4 percent more (878,958 against 621,536) and Gonzalez from 23rd to 13th with 38.6 percent more (828,405 against 597,718).
The fastest growth from 2010 to 2020 among the top 1,000 names came elsewhere. Zhang rose from 70,125 to 122,053 (74.1 percent), Liu from 78,370 to 127,257 (62.4 percent), Wang from 109,883 to 169,987 (54.7 percent), Ahmed from 48,319 to 74,458 (54.1 percent) and Kaur from 48,753 to 75,046 (53.9 percent). Almost all of the fastest growers are predominantly Asian or Pacific Islander names, and lower 2020 coverage means true growth was probably higher. For growth by place, see the fastest-growing cities in the US.
Who Carries the Top Ten: 14,037,436 People by Race and Hispanic Origin
Adding the Bureau’s counts across all ten names gives 14,037,436 people: 6,592,924 White, 3,383,557 Hispanic, 3,345,163 Black, 509,908 of two or more races, 104,198 Asian or Pacific Islander and 101,686 American Indian or Alaska Native. White people are 47.0 percent of that total, Hispanic people 24.1 percent and Black people 23.8 percent. These shares describe who carries these ten names, not the country as a whole.
Garcia, Rodriguez and Martinez hold 3,016,581 of the Hispanic total, and the other seven names hold 366,976, so each of the other seven is only 3.1 to 3.5 percent Hispanic. Williams (721,683), Johnson (623,699) and Smith (535,967) hold more than half of the Black total. For a global comparison, see the most populous countries.
What the Census Name Tabulation Counts, and What It Leaves Out
The figures count people whose last name appears in the Census Bureau’s 2020 names tabulation, which publishes 156,621 names reported at least 100 times. Those people number about 299 million, or 90.2 percent of the 2020 population. The raw returns held about 9.4 million distinct entries, cut to about 7.8 million by editing, which removes punctuation, spaces and suffixes such as Jr or III, so SMITH and SMITH III count together.
The 2020 counts carry privacy noise that has a 95 percent chance of moving each name and group cell by no more than two people, so they are close tallies rather than exact ones. Name origins come from Behind the Name and Wikipedia, since the Census Bureau does not publish meanings: six of the ten are patronymics, two are trades, one is a nickname and Jones comes from a given name.
Checking Your Own Surname Against the Census Files
Start with the Top 1,000 file on the Census Bureau’s 2020 names page, and move to the full file of 156,621 names if yours is missing. A name reported fewer than 100 times is not published. Compare the rate per 100,000 rather than the raw count, because the population grew between releases.
Treat small gaps with care. Brown leads Jones by only 2,833 people, which is larger than the privacy noise but tiny against the swings between censuses. The counts are people, not households or families, and a shared name does not mean shared ancestry.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Americans are named Smith?
The 2020 Census count is 2,369,644 people, or 792.8 per 100,000. That is 73,333 fewer than the 2,442,977 of 2010, and Johnson is 511,410 behind.
Which last name has grown fastest since 2010?
Among the top 1,000 names, Zhang leads, rising 74.1 percent from 70,125 to 122,053. Liu (62.4 percent) and Wang (54.7 percent) follow.
How many different last names are there in the United States?
The 2020 Census returned about 9.4 million distinct entries, and editing left about 7.8 million. Of those, 156,621 were reported at least 100 times and appear in the public table.
Is Garcia or Rodriguez more common?
Garcia, by 63,672 people: 1,149,510 against 1,085,838. Garcia ranks sixth and Rodriguez eighth, with Miller between them.
