English Family Names
Of the top ten family names in the United States, eight have English origins or having possible mixed British Isles heritage, the other two being of Spanish origin. This is the first time two surnames of non-British Isles origin have been in the top 10 most common family names. Many African Americans have their origins in slavery (i.e. slave name). Many of them came to bear the surnames of their former owners. Many freed slaves either created family names themselves or adopted the name of their former master. According to 2000 U.S. Census data, the top ten surnames in the United States are: In the last UK Census in 2001, surnames in England can be compared to the United States with 6 of the family names in England being in both their top ten. Many English surnames are also found in Ireland. This is attributable to a number of factors, including the Protestant Plantation of Ireland, as well as the imposition of the Penal Laws in the Middle Ages, which forced many Irish people to Anglicize their surnames. Also, in the 9th century, Viking invaders brought many Norse names to Ireland that they had already brought to England when they established and settled the Danelaw. Although some Scandinavian names may have been brought to England in pre-Viking times, especially in the North and East (who says?). Moreover, the Anglo-Normans who invaded Ireland in the 1170s brought many Norman French names which they had already spread to England (again .
| Name | Rank - 2000 | Number | Country of Origin | England - 2001 |
| Smith | 1 | 2,376,207 | England, Ireland, Scotland | Smith |
| Johnson | 2 | 1,857,160 | England | Jones |
| Williams | 3 | 1,534,042 | England, Wales | Taylor |
| Brown | 4 | 1,380,145 | England, Ireland, Scotland | Brown |
| Jones | 5 | 1,362,755 | England, Wales | Williams |
| Miller | 6 | 1,127,803 | England, Scotland, Germany, France | Wilson |
| Davis | 7 | 1,072,335 | England, Wales | Johnson |
| García | 8 | 858,289 | Spain | Davies |
| Rodríguez | 9 | 804,240 | Spain | Robinson |
| Wilson | 10 | 783,051 | England, Scotland | Wright |
Read more about this topic: English American
Famous quotes containing the words english, family and/or names:
“The Tragi-Comedy, which is the Product of the English Theatre, is one of the most monstrous Inventions that ever entered into a Poet’s Thoughts. An Author might as well think of weaving the Adventures of Aeneas and Hudibras into one Poem, as of writing such a motly [sic] Piece of Mirth and Sorrow.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“If you are a genius and unsuccessful, everybody treats you as if you were a genius, but when you come to be successful, when you commence to earn money, when you are really successful, then your family and everybody no longer treats you like a genius, they treat you like a man who has become successful.”
—Pablo Picasso (1881–1973)
“In a time of confusion and rapid change like the present, when terms are continually turning inside out and the names of things hardly keep their meaning from day to day, it’s not possible to write two honest paragraphs without stopping to take crossbearings on every one of the abstractions that were so well ranged in ornate marble niches in the minds of our fathers.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)