Category Archives: Surnames

Irish Surnames

If you decide to not hire a Genealogist, you may find yourself trying to determine what an unfamiliar Irish last name is from an old document, such as a Death Certificate or a Marriage Record. This list will help identify some of those names.

List of Most Common Irish Last Names

1. Murphy – the sea battlers
2. Kelly – the bright-headed ones
3. O’Sullivan – the hawkeyed ones
4. Walsh – the Welshmen
5. O’Brien – the noblemen
6. Byrne – the ravens
7. Ryan – the little kings
8. O’Connor – patrons of warriors
9. O’Neill – from a champion, Niall of the Nine Hostages
10. O’Reilly

Note – The names Smith and Murray both made the top 10, but Smith is British and Murray of Scottish origin, so they are excluded from the list.

Source: Irishcentral.com

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English Surnames

This List consists of the 50 most common last names in Great Britain today. Not all names are of British origin.

List of Most Common English Last Names

1 Smith
2 Jones
3 Williams
4 Brown
5 Taylor
6 Davis
7 Wilson
8 Evans
9 Thomas
10 Johnson
11 Roberts
12 Walker
13 Wright
14 Robinson
15 Thompson
16 White
17 Hughes
18 Edwards
19 Green
20 Hall
21 Wood
22 Harris
23 Lewis
24 Martin
25 Jackson
26 Clarke
27 Clark
28 Turner
29 Hill
30 Scott
31 Cooper
32 Morris
33 Ward
34 Moore
35 King
36 Watson
37 Baker
38 Harrison
39 Morgan
40 Patel
41 Young
42 Allen
43 Mitchell
44 James
45 Anderson
46 Phillips
47 Lee
48 Bell
49 Parker

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Spanish Surnames

If you decide to not hire a Genealogist, you may find yourself trying to determine what an unfamiliar Spanish last name is from an old document, such as a Death Certificate or a Marriage Record. This list will help identify some of those names.

Understand that this list is the most common names of Spanish origin, in America, but not of people descended directly from Spain. Most “Americans” with “Spanish” Last names came to America after many generations in Central or South America. This list is by current population in America, of Spanish origin.

List of Most Common Spanish Last Names

1 GARCIA
2 RODRIGUEZ
3 MARTINEZ
4 HERNANDEZ
5 LOPEZ
6 GONZALEZ
7 PEREZ
8 SANCHEZ
9 RAMIREZ
10 TORRES
11 FLORES
12 RIVERA
13 GOMEZ
14 DIAZ
15 REYES
16 MORALES
17 CRUZ
18 ORTIZ
19 GUTIERREZ
20 CHAVEZ
21 RAMOS
22 GONZALES
23 RUIZ
24 ALVAREZ
25 MENDOZA
26 VASQUEZ
27 CASTILLO
28 JIMENEZ
29 MORENO
30 ROMERO
31 HERRERA
32 MEDINA
33 AGUILAR
34 GARZA
35 CASTRO
36 VARGAS
37 FERNANDEZ
38 GUZMAN
39 MUNOZ
40 MENDEZ
41 SALAZAR
42 SOTO
43 DELGADO
44 PENA
45 RIOS
46 ALVARADO
47 SANDOVAL
48 CONTRERAS
49 VALDEZ
50 GUERRERO
51 ORTEGA
52 ESTRADA
53 NUNEZ
54 MALDONADO
55 VEGA
56 VAZQUEZ
57 SANTIAGO
58 DOMINGUEZ
59 ESPINOZA
60 SILVA
61 PADILLA
62 MARQUEZ
63 CORTEZ
64 ROJAS
65 ACOSTA
66 FIGUEROA
67 LUNA
68 JUAREZ
69 NAVARRO
70 CAMPOS
71 MOLINA
72 AVILA
73 AYALA
74 MEJIA
75 CARRILLO
76 DURAN
77 SANTOS
78 SALINAS
79 ROBLES
80 SOLIS
81 LARA
82 CERVANTES
83 AGUIRRE
84 DELEON
85 OCHOA
86 MIRANDA
87 CARDENAS
88 TRUJILLO
89 VELASQUEZ
90 FUENTES
91 CABRERA
92 LEON
93 RIVAS
94 MONTOYA
95 CALDERON
96 COLON
97 SERRANO
98 GALLEGOS
99 ROSALES
100 CASTANEDA
101 VILLARREAL

Source: Mongabay.com

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French Surnames

While New York is not exactly booming with French Ancestry, you may still find a French surname on an old document, such as a Death Certificate or a Marriage Record. This list will help identify some of those names.

List of Most Common French Surnames

 

1. Martin
2. Bernard
3. Dubois
4. Thomas
5. Robert
6. Richard
7. Petit
8. Durand
9. Leroy
10. Moreau
11. Simon
12. Laurent
13. Lefebvre
14. Michel
15. Garcia
16. David
17. Bertrand
18. Roux
19. Vincent
20. Fournier
21. Morel
22. Girard
23. Andre
24. Lefevre
25. Mercier
26. Dupont
27. Lambert
28. Bonnet
29. Francois
30. Martinez
31. Legrand
32. Garnier
33. Faure
34. Rousseau
35. Blanc
36. Guerin
37. Muller
38. Henry
39. Roussel
40. Nicolas
41. Perrin
42. Morin
43. Mathieu
44. Clement
45. Gauthier
46. Dumont
47. Lopez
48. Fontaine
49. Chevalier
50. Robin
51. Masson
52. Sanchez
53. Gerard
54. Nguyen
55. Boyer
56. Denis
57. Lemaire
58. Duval
59. Joly
60. Gautier
61. Roger
62. Roche
63. Roy
64. Noel
65. Meyer
66. Lucas
67. Meunier
68. Jean
69. Perez
70. Marchand
71. Dufour
72. Blanchard
73. Marie
74. Barbier
75. Brun
76. Dumas
77. Brunet
78. Schmitt
79. Leroux
80. Colin
81. Fernandez
82. Pierre
83. Renard
84. Arnaud
85. Rolland
86. Caron
87. Aubert
88. Giraud
89. Leclerc
90. Vidal
91. Bourgeois
92. Renaud
93. Lemoine
94. Picard
95. Gaillard
96. Philippe
97. Leclercq
98. Lacroix
99. Fabre
100. Dupuis
101. Olivier

Source: Behindthename.com

Surname Meaning Pages

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German Surnames

If you decide to not hire a Genealogist, you may find yourself trying to determine what an unfamiliar German Last Name is from an old document, such as a Death Certificate or a Marriage Record. This list will help identify some of those names.

 

List of Most Common German Last Names

This is a list of the top 100 common German Surnames according to 2012’s German phonebooks.  The list includes the English translation / definition.  
 

01. Müller     miller
02. Schmidt    smith
03. Schneider    taylor
04. Fischer    fisher
05. Weber     weaver
06. Schäfer    shepherd
07. Meyer    steward of landholder
08. Wagner     wagoner
09. Becker    from Bäcker – baker
10. Bauer    farmer
11. Hoffmann    landed farmer
12. Schulz    mayor
13. Koch    cook
14. Richter    judge
15. Klein    small
16. Wolf    wolf
17. Schröder    carter
18. Neumann    new man
19. Braun    brown
20. Werner    defense army
21. Schwarz    black
22. Hofmann    landed farmer
23. Zimmermann    carpenter
24. Schmitt    smith
25. Hartmann    strong man
26. Schmid    smith
27. Weiß    white
28. Schmitz    smith
29. Krüger    potter
30. Lange    long
31. Meier    steward of landholder
32. Walter    leader, ruler
33. Köhler    charcoal-maker
34. Maier     steward of landholder
35. Beck    from Bach – stream; Bäcker – baker
36. König    king
37. Krause    curly-haired
38. Schulze    mayor
39. Huber    land owner
40. Mayer    steward of landholder
41. Frank    from Franconia
42. Lehmann    serf
43. Kaiser    emperor
44. Fuchs    fox
45. Herrmann    warrior
46. Lang    long
47. Thomas    Aramaic twin
48. Peters    Greek rock
49. Stein    rock, stone
50. Jung    young
51. Möller    miller
52. Berger      from French -> shepherd
53. Martin    latin war-like
54. Friedrich    fridu- peace, rihhi- powerful
55. Scholz    mayor
56. Keller    cellar
57. Groß    big
58. Hahn    rooster
59. Roth    from rot -red
60. Günther    Scandinavian warrior
61. Vogel    bird
62. Schubert    Schuochwürchte-> shoemaker
63. Winkler    from Winkel ->angle
64. Schuster    shoemaker
65. Jäger    hunter
66. Lorenz    derived from latin Laurentius
67. Ludwig    luth- famous, wig- war
68. Baumann    farmer
69. Heinrich    heim > home and rihhi – powerful
70. Otto    ot- property, inheritance
71. Simon    Hebrew God has listened
72. Graf    count, earl
73. Kraus    curly-haired
74. Krämer    small trader, dealer
75. Böhm    of Bohemia
76. Schulte    from Schultheiß – debt-broker
77. Albrecht    adal- noble, bereht- famous
78. Franke    of Franconia
79. Winter    winter
80. Schumacher    cobbler, shoemaker
81. Vogt    steward
82. Haas    – nickname for rabbit hunter; coward
83. Sommer    summer
84. Schreiber    writer, scribe
85. Engel    angel
86. Ziegler     brickmaker
87. Dietrich    people’s ruler
88. Brandt    fire, burn
89. Seidel    mug
90. Kuhn    councilman
91. Busch    bush
92. Horn    horn
93. Arnold    strength of an eagle
94. Kühn    councilman
95. Bergmann    miner
96. Pohl    Polish
97. Pfeiffer    piper
98. Wolff    wolf
99. Voigt    steward
100. Sauer    sour

Source: www.about.com

Last Name Meanings Pages

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Italian Surnames

If you decide to not hire an Italian Genealogist, you may find yourself trying to determine what an unfamiliar Italian Last Name is from an old document, such as a Death Certificate or a Marriage Record. This list will help identify some of those names.

Another list with the Etymology and Origins of Italian Surnames

List of Most Common Italian Last Names

1.Rossi
2 Russo
3 Ferrari
4 Esposito
5 Bianchi
6 Romano
7 Colombo
8 Ricci
9 Marino
10 Greco
11 Bruno
12 Gallo
13 Conti
14 De Luca
15 Mancini
16 Costa
17 Giordano
18 Rizzo
19 Lombardi
20 Moretti
21 Barbieri
22 Fontana
23 Santoro
24 Mariani
25 Rinaldi
26 Caruso
27 Ferrara
28 Galli
29 Martini
30 Leone
31 Longo
32 Gentile
33 Martinelli
34 Vitale
35 Lombardo
36 Serra
37 Coppola
38 De Santis
39 D’Angelo
40 Marchetti
41 Parisi
42 Villa
43 Conte
44 Ferraro
45 Ferri
46 Fabri
47 Bianco
48 Marini
49 Grasso
50 Valentini
51 Messina
52 Sala
53 De Angelis
54 Gatti
55 Pellegrini
56 Palumbo
57 Sanna
58 Farina
59 Rizzi
60 Monti
61 Cattaneo
62 Morelli
63 Amato
64 Silvestri
65 Mazza
67 Testa
68 Grassi
69 Pellegrino
70 Carbone
71 Giuliani
72 Benedetti
73 Barone
74 Rossetti
76 Montanari
77 Guerra
78 Palmieri
79 Bernardi
80 Martino
81 Fiore
82 De Rosa
83 Ferretti
84 Bellini
85 Basile
86 Riva
87 Donati
88 Piras
89 Vitali
90 Battaglia
91 Sartori
92 Neri
93 Costantini
94 Milani
95 Pagano
96 Ruggiero
97 Sorrentino
98 D’Amico
99 Orlando
100 Negri
101 Mantovan

Last Name Meanings Pages

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Surname Meanings

Surname Meanings

One of the first things that spark an interest in many of my clients is the meaning of their surname.  What exactly does their surname mean?  Some surnames have obvious meanings, and some do not.  No Genealogy website would be complete without a list of surname definitions.

This page will be updated on a regular basis and expanded as time allows.  I am going to use the Census.gov page as a guide for the top 10 most common names for now:

Top 10 most popular American Surnames in the 2000 US Census

1)  Smith  –  Meaning of name “Smith” – metal worker, blacksmith” from Old English smið, derived from smitan “to smite, to hit”.

2)  Johnson  –  Meaning of name “Johnson” – son of John

3)  Williams  –  Meaning of name “Williams” – son of William

4)  Brown  –  Meaning of name “Brown” – Originally a nickname for a person who had brown hair or skin

5)  Jones  –  Meaning of name “Jones” – Derived from the given name Jon, a medieval variant of John

6)  Miller  –  Meaning of name “Miller” – Occupational surname referring to a person who owned or worked in a grain mill.

7)  Davis  –  Meaning of name “Davis” – Son of David

8 ) Garcia  –  Meaning of name “Garcia” – According to Elsdon C. Smith, author of “American Surnames,” the name Garcia could mean either “descendant of Garcia, Spanish form of Gerald” or “one who came from Garcia, in Spain.  Or, derived from the Basque word hartz, meaning “bear.”

9)  Rodriguez  –  Meaning of name “Rodriguez” –  Son of Rodrigo

10) Wilson  –  Meaning of name “Wilson” – Son of WIll

Surname Meaning Pages

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