Charleston, West Virginia (WOWK) – Do you think you have a famous last name? A new study finds that most Americans have one of six surnames, no matter where they live.
In the study, Ancestry.com reviewed phone book listings from around the country to determine the three most common last names in each state. The company found Smith to be the most popular.
In fact, Smith failed to reach the top three titles in only five states: California, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, and North Dakota.
Ancestry explains that Smith was an occupational name, meaning a worker who specialized in metals like a blacksmith or farrier, true to his English and Scottish roots. As of 2004, the average age of people with the last name Smith was 73, compared to the national average of 74.
Other popular surnames include Johnson, Miller, Jones, Williams, and Anderson.
Regionally, Ancestry has found quite a few differences. Anderson’s, for example, is more common in the Northwest—states like Washington, Idaho, Utah, and the Dakota—than anywhere else in the country.
Miller is most commonly found in the Midwest and Appalachian regions—Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kansas—while Garcia is popular in southwest states like Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada.
The interactive map below shows the most common surname in each state, according to Ancestry:
Hawaii was the only state where the last names Lee, Wong, and Kim were the most popular. California also had two names – Hernandez and Lopez – no other state was in the top three.
These names were among the most popular in just one state:
- Sullivan: Massachusetts
- Nelson: Minnesota
- Chavez: New Mexico
- Olson: North Dakota
You can view Ancestry’s full report hereas well as the meanings and origins behind many common last names.
https://www.abc27.com/pennsylvania/whats-the-most-popular-last-name-in-your-state/
