Top 1,000 Last Names

The 1,000 most common last names in the US

These 1000 last names are the complete top 1,000 from the US Census Bureau’s 2020 surname file, with the number of people who have each name. Together these 1,000 last names cover a large share of the US population, which is why they feel so familiar. Search for part of a name, filter by first letter, sort by length, or filter by the group that makes up most people with the name.

Smith leads with 2,369,644 people, followed by Johnson (1,858,234) and Williams (1,561,395). Garcia is 6th, Lee 19th and Nguyen 29th. Every name on the list is shared by tens of thousands of people.

Using realistic last names

Need a generic last name for a form, a last name example in a tutorial, or a placeholder? The top of this list is the natural choice: Smith, Johnson and Williams are the names most people expect.

If you need realistic last names for a story, a game or sample data, this list is the safest place to start: these are the names of real people all over the country. For a random mix rather than a ranking, use the American last name generator, or get a list of first and last names ready to download.

Want to see where a name outside the top 1,000 ranks? Look up any surname to get its rank among more than 156,000.

Frequently asked questions