Plenty of womenand men, for that mattermight choose not to give their last name to their kids if its bundled up in familial trauma. Audie Murphy (1925-1971), American war hero and actor; Austin J. Murphy (born 1927), Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania; . #231 CARPENTER Occupational surname for a carpenter. To this end, the USCCB has advanced beatification and canonization causes of six inspirational African American men and women: Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Servant of God Mother Mary Lange . #528 POPE Occupational surname. #1 SMITH - A smith is a craftsman, and was used for as an occupational title for many different crafts. The trend of naming people after the places that they come from goes beyond the English language, as many German, Dutch Norwegian, and Swedish last names end in -berg (which means mountain in those languages). #181 WARREN Lives near a warren/animal enclosure. #762 CORDOVA Habitational surname for a family from the ancient city of Crdoba, Spain. #247 LARSON Son of Lars. #148 VARGAS From the pasture. #176 BOYD Scottish surname, from the Celtic term boidhe meaning fair or yellow. #506 PATTON Son of Pat. #964 SPENCE Occupational surname for someone in charge of a pantry/goods in an estate. #858 MEDRANO Abundance. #859 HAHN German surname from the word hane meaning rooster, applied as a nickname for a conceited or sexually active man. #306 JUAREZ Son of Suero. From Ceallaigh. Wassa was a feminine Anglo-Saxon given name. #864 PECK Occupational surname for someone who dealt in pekkesa medieval measure of dry goods equal to 28 pounds. #883 McMAHON From the Gaelic surname Mac Mathghamha, which means son of the Bear. Literally means Little Valencia and Valencia means bravery, strength. The earliest recorded surname is Clirigh. #1 SMITH A smith is a craftsman, and was used for as an occupational title for many different crafts. #578 FLOWERS Occupational surname for someone who works flowers like a gardener or with a bow & arrow. #18 MOORE A family who lived near a marsh or bog. #99 FOSTER Occupational surname, a contraction of Forester. #780 McKEE From the Gaelic surnameMac Aodh, literally meaning son of the fiery one. #411 LIU Chinese surnmae meaning to kill, destroy. #467 TATE Cheerful person. Several of the names that rank highly on this list are also predicted to be among the most popular baby names this year. National Library of Ireland: Parish Registers, galway: Conealy (also commonly spelled Conneely and Connolly). #170 HICKS Family of Richard. #90 HUGHES Family of Hugh. A winner of an American Jurisprudence Award in Professional Legal Ethics, Rabbi Fischer also is the author of two books, including General Sharon's War Against Time Magazine, which covered the . The United States has long been a melting pot for various cultures from across the globe. #754 NOLAN From the Gaelic surname ONullain, meaning son or descendent of the Kings herald. #946 KRUEGER German occupational surname for someone who made or sold glass/pottery kruog, or ran an inn krug. Literally translates to the willow woods. #1000 ARCHER Occupational surname for an archer/bow man. Cassia. #375 WARNER Guard. Powell, Kimberly. In China, the share of women who pass down their family name is on the rise. #262 BISHOP Occupational surname for a bishop. #949 PERALTA Habitational surname for someone from any number of places named Peralta in Spain. #696 RICH Wealthy or family of Richard. #992 ROLLINS Family of Rollo. #522 LLOYD From the Welsh Llwyd, meaning grey. #620 HUYNH Korean surname meaning bright or yellow. From Old English word, burna. #539 VILLANUEVA From the new town. #755 McCULLOUGH From the Scottish clan name, MacCullaich meaning son of the boar, where the boar represented a brave man. #160 HUNTER Occupational surname for an animal hunter/trapper. #936 LIM Chinese surname meaning forest. #386 ROBLES From the village of Robles, in the province of Leon, Spain. #764 ROACH From the French surname Roches, meaning lives near a rocky crag. Some records are maintained in the local parishes. #873 BERNAL Spanish surname meaning son of Baruch. #951 STUART Occupational surname for someone who worked as a steward/assistant. #401 AGUIRRE From a prominent place. #616 HOOD Scottish occupational surname for a maker of hoods or nickname for someone who wore one. #844 HOUSE Habitational or occupational surname for someone who either owned a big mansion or worked in one. #3 WILLIAMS - Son or family of William. O'Doherty 16. #324 BARNETT From the place near the clearing (burned place). #970 CHERRY Occupational surname for someone who grew or sold cherries. #728 HENSON Son of Henry. We'll also look at the race and ethnic origin of people in the United States who are named Catholic. #172 PALMER Pilgrim. Retrieved from https://namecensus.com/last-names/catholic-surname-popularity/. Daly 25. #397 SIMON One who harkens. Join the movement! Geographically speaking, most of Ireland is within the predominantly Catholic Irish Republic. #309 CURTIS Person with manners. #860 McMILLAN From the Gaelic surname Macghillemhaoil, meaning son of the monks servant. Jennifer is widely regarded as the leading expert on popular baby name trends and the naming process, serving as the authoritative source on the subject for national and international media. Anne Catherine Emmerich), and Lydia. #367 HORTON From the farm on muddy soil. #751 CORTES Courteous, refined. By the 1400s, Anthony wrote, when surnames were more commonly passed down directly from parent to child, plenty of children took their mothers or grandmothers last name. #906 BLEVINS Welsh surname from the word Blaid meaning wolf. #333 AYALA Lives near the hillside or pasture. #700 WARE Occupational surname for someone who was employed at a weir or dam, or habitational surname for someone who lived near one. #680 KANE From the town of Caen, in Normandy, France. Mallinson knew that their choice was not a popular one for heterosexual American couplesshes a professor of sociolinguistics and gender and womens studies at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, and wrote a 2017 paper that, in part, analyzes patrilineal surname conventions. #80 RICHARDSON Son of Richard. This was another common surname convention, which originated from a father's first name, and then "son" was added, as in Stevenson, Davidson, Robertson, or Richardson. #744 MACDONALD Son of Donald. #824 MORSE Family of Maurice. Literally means From the rich hill or mount. #299 FOWLER Occupational surname for someone who works with fowl (birds). #157 OLSON Son of Olaf. The surname is a variant of two Irish surnames: " Murchadha"/" Murchadh" (descendant of "Murchadh"), . #756 MERRITT Habitational surname for a family who came from Merriott in Somerset, UK. A large swath of American society has simply failed to conceive of a reality beyond patrilineal surnames. #498 PARSONS Occupational surname for a parson or priest. records in their database, you can research your family name and discover amazing details you may never have known about your ancestors. Literally means black. #560 SHAFFER German occupational surname for someone who was a household manager or steward. #709 TANNER Occupational surname for someone who tanned hides. #797 BROWNING Descriptive surname from the Olde English brun meaning someone with brown hair or skin. #978 LU Chinese surname of unknown meaning. #288 FIELDS Lived in or near the fields. #37 TORRES Family who lived near a tower. #724 MATA Habitational name derived from a number of towns in Spain and Portugal. Literally means Forest land. #955 COFFEY From the Gaelic surname O Cobhthaigh meaning descendant of the victorious. #738 BARRY From the Gaelic surname O Baire, meaning the male descendant of Fionnbharr, or fair-haired one. #540 ZAMORA Family from the ancient city of Zamora in North West Spain. Different cultures have a variety of ways to choose given names, so its only fitting that the nomenclature of a surname, or last name, is just as complex. #994 WHITNEY From the land surrounded by streams. #544 BALLARD Nickname for a person who had a bald head. Bureaucratic roadblocks aside, many researchers suspect that the stubbornness of patrilineal surnames for heterosexual married couples relates to how they communicate about the issueeven when they discuss surnaming a child, theyre more likely to lean on tradition. #564 HESS Person with hood/helmet. #72 BAILEY Occupational surname for a bailiff. #312 SCHNEIDER Occupational surname for a tailor. $3,500/mo. #2 JOHNSON Son of John. #813 MIDDLETON From anyone of the places named Middleton in the UK, literally meaning the middle town. #549 DRAKE Dragon. #669 GLENN Lives in or near a valley. #938 SHEPPARD Occupational surname for a shepherd. #16 THOMAS Son of Thomas. Most probably had nothing to do with the actual moon. Smith 6. Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about. "Catholic Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin". #606 LARSEN Son of Lars. #854 MAYS Either family of Matthew or a nickname for a guy who is a good friend. Here are the top 100 names as ranked by the 2010 Census. Theres this implicit understanding that having the fathers last name is inherently in the childs best interest, she said, citing cases where judges argued that taking the fathers surname would deepen the family relationship or provide children with more financial security later in life. Jennifer entered the tech arena in the 80s as a software developer and database architect, and became a pioneer in the Internet industry. #95 PATEL Indian/Gujarati surname meaning Landowner. #69 MORGAN Welsh surname meaning by the sea. #129 HERRERA Occupational surname for an iron worker (ferrier). #343 RHODES From a clearing in the woods #405 SHARP Smart person. #479 GALLAGHER Irish surname meaning descendant of Gallchobhair. #925 ESQUIVEL Behind the lime tree. #374 WOLFE Wolf or Wolf-like. #7 MILLER Occupational surname for someone who worked in a mill. #283 WEBER German occupational surname for a weaver. #748 ENGLISH Person from England. #934 RICHMOND Habitational surname from any of the towns in England or northern France with that name. Literally means the watering place. #808 DUARTE A prosperous guardian. For example, those of Spanish descent have an interesting way to denote familial lines through the last name alone. #507 IBARRA From the valley or hillside. #49 CARTER Occupational surname for a cart driver. #393 SALINAS Lives in a large building or fortress. The last name Helguson, for instance, means son of Helga, referring to a mothers first name; many other Icelanders have surnames that reflect the first name of their father. Though few studies on the topic have been conducted, evidence suggests that in almost every American family with a mom and a dad, children receive their fathers last name. #900 ASHLEY From the ash wood or clearing. It was a respectable movement involving the most responsible and accomplished people of France. Slideshow. Kelly is the English version of the Gaelic Ceallaigh, or "descendant of Ceallach," an ancient personal name meaning "bright-headed" or "warlike." It has origins in several different parts of the. #64 MURPHY Irish surname meaning Descendant of Murchadh. #541 PRATT From the Old English word praett meaning a trick (like pratfall). #794 McCALL From Gaelic surname Mac Cathmhaoil, literally meaning son of the battle chief. #274 WONG Variation of the Korean surname Huang, which literally means shiny or yellow. #471 HODGES Family of Roger. https://www.thoughtco.com/most-common-us-surnames-1422656 (accessed March 4, 2023). #514 COBB Nickname meaning lump or a short form of the name Jacob. #123 WALLACE Welsh or Foreigner. #633 KIRBY Lives near the Church/Farm. #66 ROGERS Family of Roger #444 BURGESS Free man of a fortified town. #287 MARQUEZ Son of Marco. #766 WINTERS Nickname surname for someone who was literally cold or unemotional. #59 COLLINS Family of Coilean Rodriguez is the least white-sounding of all Hispanic last names. #800 SLOAN From the old Gaelic given name Sluaghadhan, meaning a leader of a military expedition. #753 KEMP Champion. #215 CARROLL Irish surname from the Gaelic O Cearbhaill meaning fierce in battle. #761 KLINE German nickname surname given to someone who was small. Search for a specific ancestor in FamilySearch. In the U.S., patrilineal surnames have long been the normin 1881, a New York court said that the common law among all English speaking people demanded that wives give up their last name. #380 DAWSON Son of David. I also have a Ph.D. in English and have written more than 4,000 articles for regional and national publications. Literally means valley of the hare. #481 HAMMOND From the Norse Viking name Hamundr, meaning high protection. #641 VINCENT Conqueror. #286 LUCAS From Lucania, Italy. #332 CRAIG Lives near the outcropping of rocks. #708 CLAY Occupational or habitational surname for someone who worked with clay or lived on clay land. Your last name can give you clues into who you are and where you came from. #563 McKENZIE Scottish Gaelic clan name meaning Son of Coinneach, literally meaning fair one. Catholic, like all of the names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. One being an occupational surname for a bow maker. #499 FRANK Person from France. Nevertheless, some surnames make it somewhat likely that somewhere along the line there was an Irish ancestor who was probably Catholic. #43 NELSON Son of Neil. #535 YATES Occupational or habitational surname for someone who was a gate-keeper, or lived near a prominent gate. #155 BURNS Lives by the stream. the third son, after the father. #857 RAYMOND Counsel protection. #339 GREGORY Possibly from Gregorian monks, literally means watchful, awake. #31 WALKER Occupational surname for a person who walked on damp cloth in order to thicken it. #448 TRUJILLO Family from the city of Trujillo, Spain. one of the teachings from the Catholic Church on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. #250 MORRISON Son of Morris. Gharibian - The meaning of this Armenian patronymic name is "son of Gharib." "Gharib" is a Turkish word that means "stranger" or "impoverished person.". #418 CARDENAS From the land of thorns. #532 McCORMICK Son of Cormac. Even in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, patrilineal surnames are a surprisingly new convention. Persons in Ireland, like persons everywhere, pick up and move. #769 KNOX Near a round-topped hill (cnoc) #957 SANFORD From the sandy ford. #896 ESPINOSA Lives by the thorn bushes or a person with a prickly character. #877 VENTURA Foundling or deserted child used for someone who was innocent or gullible. #162 MENDEZ Contraction of Menendez, meaning son of Mendo. Some of the most influential ethnicities that have changed the fabric of American family names include Spanish, Portuguese, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and English settlers who arrived on North American shores and brought their familial nomenclature with them. #888 MAGANA Habitational name from either of the villages named Magaa, in Soria and Crdoba provinces in Spain. #611 LAM Chinese surname meaning Forest. #685 WIGGINS Son of the high noble or warrior. #398 VELASQUEZ Son of Velasco. #464 CASTANEDA Literally translates to chestnut, and might have been used to describe a person with reddish-brown hair or worked a chestnut grove. #637 ATKINSON Family or son of Adam. #34 KING Ruler of the area. #713 WILEY Habitational surname for families who came from a number of towns in the U.K. named Wiley. #344 SHELTON From the ledge/enclosure. #670 CISNEROS From Cisneros in the province of Palencia, Spain. #581 SHORT Nickname for a short person. #451 GOODMAN Man of god, or landowner. #581 ARIAS Occupational surname either from the Latin aro meaning farmer, or a craftsman from the Latin ars meaning skill. #217 RILEY From the rye clearing. Northern Ireland occupies only about a sixth of the island in the Northeast corner. #462 HINES Occupational surname for a deer keeper or tender. Mallinson thinks that is partly because of inertia. #114 SIMMONS Family of Simon. #966 CHURCH Someone who worked in a church or lived near a church. #431 ROSALES From the place of roses. #916 CRANE Nickname surname given to a man who was tall and thin like a crane (bird). Feminine variations include Charlotte, Carla, Carlotta, and Caroline. #516 ANDRADE Habitational name for people who lived in the small parish of San Martio de Andrade in the town of Pontedeume, Galicia in Spain. Here are the top 1000 last names (surnames) in the United States, according to the most recent U.S. census. #425 CHAN Chinese surname literally meaning field or plain. The first thing to understand about the patrilineal surnames commonly used in the United States is that they are not universal. Literally Priests Town. Kentucky was populated largely by settlers from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. #314 BARRETT Warlike person, quarrelsome. #345 SCHWARTZ Person of dark or swarthy complexion. Although hyphenated last names are much more widely accepted than double-barrel surnames in the U.S., even they have faced roadblocks. #435 GILL Nickname for William. #104 RUSSELL Little Red one. #311 DOUGLAS From the dark or green river. #476 SAUNDERS Family of Alexander. #356 VAUGHN From the Welsh fychan meaning small, little When Hernndez Grande had kids of her own, she decided they should take the last name of her husbandwho is from Englandso that they wouldnt have the same experience she did. #921 HORNE Occupational surname for someone who carved objects out of horn, or made musical horns (usually made out of animal horn at the time). #58 EDWARDS Family of Edward In fact, the suffix "-ez" in Spanish names is a patronymic addition, akin to "son". #17 TAYLOR From the family of the tailor. #255 CARR From an area of wet, rough ground #497 COLN Contraction of the name Colombo, meaning dove. Your last name can give you clues into who you are and where you came from. If you know your Italian ancestors' traditional naming patterns, you can use the names of bambini to guess the parents' and grandparents' identities: the first son was named after the father's father. #556 SANTANA Follower of St. Anna. #166 MASON Occupational surname for a bricklayer. #558 BAUTISTA Baptist or baptized. #207 HART Irish surname, from the Gaelic hAirt meaning descendant of Art. #3 WILLIAMS Son or family of William. Catholic Last Name Popularity, Meaning and Origin. #35 WRIGHT Occupational surname meaning a craftsman. In Puerto Rico, as in many Hispanic cultures, the first surname comes from the father's first surname, and the second one comes from the mother's first surname. #573 SHAH Persian surname meaning king. I think you can say with a very high degree of confidence that unmarried parents are less likely to pass down the fathers last name, Emily Shafer, a sociologist at Portland State University, told me. #194 GARDNER Occupational surname for a gardener/groundskeeper. #820 HOWE Lives near a man-made mound or burial mound. #819 McINTOSH Son of the chief, leader. #894 HERRING Occupational surname for a fisher or seller of herring (fish). #702 McDOWELL From the old Gaelic surname, MacDubhghaill meaning son of the dark one. #392 KLEIN Small. #602 WILCOX Son of William. #478 ROWE Locational surname of someone who lived by a row of something, or from Rowland, meaning Renowned Wolf. #543 OWEN Lives by the yew tree, or person who appears youthful. #677 GARRISON Son of Gerard or Gerald. #24 WHITE A family of light complexion or hair. #119 HAMILTON From the crooked hill. #326 CHAMBERS Occupational surname, servant who worked the bedrooms or chambers. ETHNONYMS: Afro-French, Black Creoles, Black French, Creoles, Cr oles, Cr oles Noirs, Creoles of Color. #653 WYATT Brave warrior. #693 PITTS Lives near a hollow or pit. #848 CONRAD Brave counsel. #963 ANDERSEN Son of Anders/Andrew. #950 DONALDSON Son of Donald. #583 MORA Blackberry. #567 COCHRAN Scottish surname for a family who lived near the lowlands of Cochrane. #947 RASMUSSEN Danish/Norwegian surname, meaning son of Rasmus. Kennedy 17. #631 WALL Lives near a city wall or enclosure. Literally means prominent. #852 FITZPATRICK Son of Patrick But no matter how popular, your last name is one of the most important ways to trace your identity and familial descent through the years! #903 TRUONG Vietnamese surname meaning drawing a bow or archer. Walsh 5. #349 DURAN Literally means durable, hard. #94 SANDERS Family of Alexander. #156 CRAWFORD By the river/ford crossing How to name ones family should be a choice for each couple. #717 HOBBS From the family of Hobb, a nickname for Robert. #193 RYAN Irish surname and given name meaning descendant of a follower of Ran #807 HULL Either a habitational surname for someone who lived on or near a hill, or from the given name Hulle, which was a nickname for Hugh. #294 DAY From the family of David. 50 Most Common Last Names in America (Update for 2023), Population of the United States by Race and Hispanic/Latino Origin, Extreme Points of the United States (States & Territories). #605 ROBERSON Son of Robert. #28 RAMIREZ Son of Ramiro. #715 RUSSO Descriptive surname for someone who was a red-head or had a ruddy complexion. #875 AYERS Heir to a fortune or land. "Top 100 Most Common Last Names in the United States." #599 COLLIER Occupational surname for someone who sells or burns charcoal. #149 HENRY Ruler of the Home. Literally means little shield. #647 TAPIA Lives in or behind a mud wall. These are called occupational names. #494 STRICKLAND From the cow pasture. Literally means foreign help. #47 CAMPBELL From the Latin De Bello Campo meaning from the beautiful field. Could also be from a Scottish/Gaelic nickname (cam bul) meaning crooked or sassy mouth. #87 GRAY From a nickname for someone with gray hair or house. #985 JARVIS From the given name Gervase meaning spear or spear/valley. #876 EVERETT Herd of wild boars. Clair The word may have origins in French and Latin. While Michael Houlihan's name sounds Irish and although he may have come from Dublin in the Irish Republic, that doesn't mean necessarily he's Catholic or even that his ancestors were predominantly Catholic. Literally means battlefield. #501 GLOVER Occupational surname for a glove maker or glove merchant. #530 VELAZQUEZ Son of Velasco. #774 ORR Lives near a slope or shore. #463 MULLINS French occupational surname for someone who worked in a mill. #169 HUNT Hunter. The FamilySearch Library has digitized records for the years 1594 to 1924 from the main Cathedral in St. Augustine, indexes, and various transcripts. Yet even among heterosexual couples in which each partner keeps their name, the father still passes down his last name to the kids the majority of the time. #592 HOUSTON From Hughs town. What is the Ancestry Chromosome Painter/Browser? #529 LINDSEY From Lincolnshire or Lincoln Island. #5 JONES - From the family of Jon/John. If you are curious about your own name, visit Family Name Search to discover the meanings and origins of last names. Learn about one of the world's oldest and most popular religions. Sylmarie Dvila-Montero #29 LEWIS Son or family of Lewis. Garcia leapfrogged from number 18 to number eight, while Rodriguez went up from 22 to nine. #452 ROMAN Person from Rome, Italy. #243 WHEELER Occupational surname for a person who made wagon wheels. #346 NORRIS From the North. #242 NUEZ Son of Nuo #204 HANSEN Son of Hans. #427 KHAN Chief, ruler. #413 FRANCIS Person from France or free man. #229 CONTRERAS From the town of Contreras, Spain. We spent a lot of time downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site. #316 FIGUEROA Lives near the fig tree. (S), or less than 100 total occurrences, were "Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only". #328 BECK Leaves by the stream. As has long been claimed, the U.S. is a melting pot of every ethnicity in the world. #200 HAWKINS From the hawks place. #660 HEATH Lives in or near a heath (open, unculivated land) or from a town named Heath. #726 VANG Scandinavian surname, probably habitational from a number of farmsteads and other places. #982 MADDEN From the Irish surname OMadain, meaning descendant of the son of the hound. #150 CHEN Chinese surname meaning morning. #377 McKINNEY Form of the Gaelic Mac Cionaodha meaning son of Cionaodha (pagan god of fire). Means valor, courage.