POV

Enter your last name in our Popularity Index database, and see its rank among the most common names in the United States, according to 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census data — the two years for which this data is available.

The Top Seven: According to the 2000 census data, the top seven surnames in America, though they accounted for the tiniest fraction of the surnames (just over sixteen thousandths of a percent), represented about four percent of the population — about 10.7 million people, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Belgium. Can you guess the top seven?

Biggest Gainers and Losers: Among the thousand most popular surnames in America, we calculated the surnames with the biggest increase and decrease in popularity from the 1990 to the 2000 census. See the list.

Data Source: The U.S. Census Bureau — In 1995, the Census Bureau published a list of surnames occurring 100 times or more from the 1990 decimal census. The 1990 List contains 88,799 names. When the Bureau published the list following the 2000 census, the list contained 151,671 names.

What About Me? According to the 2000 data, though the entire list of 151,671 surnames covers about 90 percent of the population, it accounts for only about 3 percent of surnames in the United States! The 2000 census found over 6 million surnames total, the vast majority (about 65%) held by just one person. So don't be discouraged if you're not on the list. Ninety-seven percent of all surnames in the United States didn't make the list.