A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Some surnames are rare, and the others are so common that their population can be measured by millions. This is a list of some of the most common surnames in the world.
1. Li or Lee - More Than 100 Million People
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Sang Lee, Korean-American creationist scholar photo source |
2. Zhang - More Than 100 Million People
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Zhāng Yíníng, Chinese table tennis player photo source |
3. Wang - More Than 93 Million People
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Wang Chien-Ming, baseball player photo source |
Wang is a Chinese family name and one of the most common surnames in the world. Wang is ranked as the most common surname in mainland China, with 92.88 million people bearing this surname. Translated into English, Wang literally means "king" or "monarch". The Wang surname is also used in some non-Chinese speaking countries, including Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.
4. Nguyễn - More Than 36 Million People
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Quynh Nguyen, classical pianist photo source |
Nguyễn is the most common Vietnamese family name. By some estimates, approximately 40 percent of Vietnamese have this surname. The prevalence of Nguyễn as a family name in Vietnam extends to outside of the country where many Vietnamese have emigrated. Nguyễn is the 7th most common family name in Australia, and the 54th most common in France. In the United States, it is the 57th most common family name according to the 2000 Census, as well as the most common exclusively Asian surname.
5. García - More Than 10 Million People
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Pablo Marcano García, Puerto Rican painter photo source |
6. González - More Than 10 Million People
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Scheila Gonzalez, American jazz saxophone player photo source |
7. Hernández - More Than 8 Million People
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Peter Hernández, Puerto Rican-American singer (commonly known by his stage name of Bruno Mars) photo source |
Hernández is a Spanish and Portuguese surname that came into common use around the 15th century. Originally a patronymic (a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor), it means son of Hernán or sometimes son of the traveler. This surname occurs mostly in Mexico, USA, Chile, Spain, Cuba...
8. Smith - More Than 4 Million People
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Adrian D. Smith, an American architect who has designed skyscrapers including the Burj Khalifa, Jin Mao Tower and Trump International Hotel and Tower. photo source |
Smith is an English family name (surname) originating in England. It is the most common surname in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, the second most common surname in Canada, and the fifth most common surname in Ireland. The surname Smith is particularly prevalent among those of English and Irish descent, but is also a common surname among African Americans, which can be attributed to black slaves adopting the name during the era of slavery and after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. At least 3 million people in the United States share the surname Smith, and more than 500,000 people share it in the United Kingdom.
9. Smirnov - More Than 2.5 Million People
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Stanislav Smirnov, mathematician photo source |
10. Müller - More Than Million People
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Patrick Müller, Swiss footballer photo source |

Its a incomplete list.
ReplyDeleteThe surname "Silva" from Brazil and Portugal has more than 20 million people.
Have you count it?
DeleteIt' s not necessary to count, it's pretty obvious. Do you live in Brazil Nacho?
DeleteThis is a list of "10 of the Most Common Surnames in the World", not of "10 Most Common Surnames in the World".
ReplyDeleteI want to add the origin of Gonzalez and Hernandez.
ReplyDeleteA long time ago there were no surnames so that "George Gonzalez" ment "George, the son of Gonzalo", and the same with Hernandez son of Hernán.
Nice list
For #10 how about adding an a between than and million
ReplyDeleteEver heard of Patel?
ReplyDeleteI want to add some information about what Jorge said:
ReplyDeleteIn Spain we have a lot of surnames ending with "-ez", as González, Vázquez, Fernández, Rodríguez, López...
Long time ago, "-ez" meant "son of", so now most of our population has that kind of surname.
Hope you find it useful!! (:
Did you people not consider the subcontinent of INDIA?
ReplyDeletewierd?
ReplyDeletehuh? Muller a million people... .try indian surnames... singh, sharma, das, bose, patel... you will find a million people sharing these names EASILY!
ReplyDelete