Common Surnames

From “Surnames and Her-Names”

n the whole, in two centuries, the most common names in the United States have not changed all that much.  Smith is still the best name for signing into a hotel anonymously.  Johnson has moved up a notch to second.  And the top five at the turn of the 18th century are still in the top six.

Thirty-six of the original top fifty were still on the list two centuries later.  Of the Fourteen that fell from the list, nine (Stewart, Rogers, Reed, Cook, Bailey, Richardson, Bennett, Foster, and Russell) were still in the top 100 while just five (Cole, Stevens, Stone, Pierce, and Wheeler) fell further.  Notice the rise of seven Latino names into the top 50.

The biggest decline in popularity was the once popular Wheeler which fell from forty-fifth to 208th in ranking. Another notable decline can be seen with the name of Clark, once sixth most common, now merely twenty-first.  My guess is that the Wheelers and Clarks of the country either produced a lot of daughters or else chose prosperity over posterity and had few children.