In which states is your last name most common ?

[DINGO Joe]

My last name is fairly common everywhere except for Hawaii and oddly, North Dakota.  However, the frequency is highest in Mississippi and South Carolina which has to do with it being a common last name among African-Americans too.  I'd be curious to know the racial breakdown by state as, since I've moved South, I've always met more black people with my last name than white.

[TJ in Oregon]

Mine is most common in Mississippi but that's only because it was Anglicized. The original German variant is, unsurprisingly, most common in Germany. Also unsurprisingly, the state it's most common in is Wisconsin (though not uncommon in Ohio). My Mom's maiden name is most common in Austria (but incredibly rare in Germany).

[Crumpets]

Countries
By prevalence: Jersey
By raw number: US

States
By prevalence: Indiana
By raw number: Texas

Counties
By prevalence: Lafayette County, Florida
By raw number: Harris County, Texas

I also checked my Mom's maiden name, which is much less common (according to the site, approximately 1,182 have this surname in the world)

Countries
By prevalence: Argentina (wasn't expecting that, but it makes sense, as there's probably some Spanish Basques who moved there)
By raw number: Argentina

States
By prevalence: Wyoming (where most of my family on that side lives)
By raw number: California

I also like that it said there are only two in Washington - presumably my Grandpa and his brother.

Counties
By prevalence: Mineral County, NV
By raw number: Ventura County, CA

[RaphaelDLG]

Awesome link, thanks!

I'm only one in 3500, baby!

I little surprised to see US at #1 with 1300 over Ireland with 800, but I guess that's how potatoes will do you.

Not remotely surprised to see 400 people in Mass as #1, a little surprised to see California at #2 but I guess that is a economic hub.

[Santander]

Hawaii, but I think that's due to transliteration noise.

[Kingpoleon]

By number: Pennsylvania
By rank: Pennsylvania
By ratio: West Virginia

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

This is a weird site.  I thought I was getting population maps, so I switched to frequency and had to look at the map and guess where it's most common.

1. New Jersey
2. Nebraska
3. Kansas
4. Wyoming
5. Utah

New Jersey doesn't surprise me at all because I share my surname with the counties in that state, but it's also a Norwegian name and therefore I would've expected higher frequencies in Minnesota + the Dakotas.

Oh, well.

[dax00]

By number: California
By frequency: Hawaii

[YaBoyNY]

The most common nation would be Italy.

The most common state is unsurprisingly New York.

It does not occur at all in South Dakota or Wyoming.

[This account no longer in use.]

Oh, you people, with last names that aren't painfully common.

[Reginald]

My surname is German, but there are only around 600 people counted there with it. Fewer than 200 in the US. So it's pretty uncommon.

Most common states by frequency are by far Iowa and Louisiana, but I'm not related to any of those people afaik.

[IceSpear]

PA and OH

[SATW]

New York.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

Florida lol.

[Leinad]

My last name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. Greenland
2. Isle of Man
3. Jersey
4. England
5. Norway

Not all too surprised, given that it seems to have British origin. Next countries in order are Wales, the US, Australia, Guernsey, and Denmark. The apparent prevalence in Nordic countries is also interesting.

States (by frequency)
1. Tennessee
2. Arkansas
3. Alabama
4. Utah
5. Oklahoma

I have driven through the first 3, but never lived in any. Interesting, indeed.

Mother's maiden name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. Brunei
2. Northern Ireland
3. Belize
4. Hong Kong
5. South Korea

What an odd group of countries? Only one of them, Northern Ireland, is there any significant chance of descent from. The name is literally a misspelling of a more common name--apparently from a petty dispute my ancestors had (which sounds about right)--but it's the same pronunciation as an Asian name. Can't explain Belize, though...

States (by frequency)
1. Tennessee
2. Delaware
3. North Carolina
4. Arkansas
5. Virginia

Again with Tennessee?!? Also, I'm sure Virginia is bumped up by my family in Lynchburg, but they originally hail from Georgia.

Paternal grandmother's maiden name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. Northern Ireland
2. Wales
3. Australia
4. United States
5. England

No surprises here. Although #6 is Jamaica, which fascinates me. There are also nearly 10 times more Polish people with this name than those Kalwejt said had his last name worldwide. Huh.

States (by frequency)
1. Mississippi
2. Vermont
3. Georgia
4. New Hampshire
5. Arkansas

Let's just have a moment to reflect on the dynamic duo of Mississippi and Vermont.

Maternal grandmother's maiden name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. United States
2. Maldives
3. Germany
4. France
5. Canada

Only 1 person with this name lives in the Maldives, and it's the #2 country by frequency.

States (by frequency)
1. Michigan
2. Indiana
3. Wyoming
4. Ohio
5. idaho

Makes sense, this branch of my family is the one in Indiana.

[MaxQue]

I have 2 last names, both very French-Canadian, one very common, the other quite more rare. Both names follow usual patterns for French Canadian names (in USA, that means New England + Florida), The rarer one has logically holes in some USA French Canadian settlement areas (due to being rarer) and a spike in Kansas, for some reason.

Common one:
Country:
By number:
Canada, United States, France, Germany, South Africa

By frequency: 
Canada, France, United States, New Zealand, South Africa.

State:
By number:
Massachussetts, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Florida

By frequency: 
Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachussetts

By county:
By number:
Bristol, MA
Hillborough, NH
Hartford, CT
Aroostock, ME
Providence, RI

By frequency: 
Aroostock, ME
Androscoggin, ME
Coos, NH
Hillsborough, NH
Kennebec, ME

Rarer one:
Country:
By number:
Canada, United States, Senegal, Haiti, France

By frequency: 
Canada, United States, Senegal, Haiti, Switzerland

State:
By number:
Massachussetts, Kansas, Connecticut, Florida, New Hampshire

By frequency: 
New Hampshire, Kansas, Alaska, Connecticut, Massachussetts

By county:
By number:
Worcester, MA
Windham, CT
Rooks, KS
And a tie between all those for 4th:
Johnson, KS
Litchfield, CT
Miami-Dade, FL
Hillsborough, NH
Maricopa, AZ

By frequency: 
Rooks, KS
Graham, KS
Windham, CT
Saline, KS
Coos, NH

[ElectionsGuy]

Kentucky, then Arkansas. There's one rural county in Montana that almost has 1% frequency, which is kind of scary. Wisconsin was one of the least frequent states.

[morgieb]

My last name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. Greenland
2. Isle of Man
3. Jersey
4. England
5. Norway

Not all too surprised, given that it seems to have British origin. Next countries in order are Wales, the US, Australia, Guernsey, and Denmark. The apparent prevalence in Nordic countries is also interesting.

States (by frequency)
1. Tennessee
2. Arkansas
3. Alabama
4. Utah
5. Oklahoma

I have driven through the first 3, but never lived in any. Interesting, indeed.

Mother's maiden name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. Brunei
2. Northern Ireland
3. Belize
4. Hong Kong
5. South Korea

What an odd group of countries? Only one of them, Northern Ireland, is there any significant chance of descent from. The name is literally a misspelling of a more common name--apparently from a petty dispute my ancestors had (which sounds about right)--but it's the same pronunciation as an Asian name. Can't explain Belize, though...

States (by frequency)
1. Tennessee
2. Delaware
3. North Carolina
4. Arkansas
5. Virginia

Again with Tennessee?!? Also, I'm sure Virginia is bumped up by my family in Lynchburg, but they originally hail from Georgia.

Paternal grandmother's maiden name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. Northern Ireland
2. Wales
3. Australia
4. United States
5. England

No surprises here. Although #6 is Jamaica, which fascinates me. There are also nearly 10 times more Polish people with this name than those Kalwejt said had his last name worldwide. Huh.

States (by frequency)
1. Mississippi
2. Vermont
3. Georgia
4. New Hampshire
5. Arkansas

Let's just have a moment to reflect on the dynamic duo of Mississippi and Vermont.

Maternal grandmother's maiden name:

Countries (by frequency)
1. United States
2. Maldives
3. Germany
4. France
5. Canada

Only 1 person with this name lives in the Maldives, and it's the #2 country by frequency.

States (by frequency)
1. Michigan
2. Indiana
3. Wyoming
4. Ohio
5. idaho

Makes sense, this branch of my family is the one in Indiana.

Worth noting most people of Afro-Carribean origin tend to have British names.

[morgieb]

Prevalent country: England
Dense country: Wales
Prevalent state: Pennsylvania
Dense state: Wyoming

As for my mother's maiden name:

Prevalent country: United States
Dense country: Bermuda
Prevalent and dense state: South Carolina

The name being so common in the Carolinas is interesting.

Paternal grandmother's maiden name:

Prevalent country: United States
Dense country: Wales (ranked #8 there!)
Prevalent state: Texas
Dense state: Mississippi

Materna grandmother's maiden name:

Prevalent country: United States
Dense country: Turks & Caicos Islands
Prevalent state: Texas
Dense state: Kentucky

[Mr. Morden]

My last name’s of German origin, so this is no surprise:

1) Germany
2) USA
3) Canada
(That’s the top three both in raw number and frequency.)

States within the US:
(incidence)
1) Wisconsin
2) Texas
3) Pennsylvania

States within the US:
(frequency)
1) Wisconsin
2) Kansas
3) Washington

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Highest incidence & density (country): Germany

Highest incidence (state): Wisconsin

Highest density (state): Nebraska

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Oddly enuf, after the US, it's France that has my family name most often, which is a surprise since it's not a French name as far as I am aware.

In terms of relative rank, it's most common in:
1 West Virginia
2 Ohio
3 Iowa
4 Kansas
5 North Carolina
6 Montana
7 Indiana

[Lexii, harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy]

Worldwide: 138 people
most prevalent in Argentina, then France (with 3,  which I know is wrong) and  only two in the US, both in Arlington VA

My mother's surname (a very common Spanish surname) is most prevalent in California, Texas, Florida abd NY (duh)

[dead0man]

My name is very German so of course the country with the most people with that last name is S.Africa (Germany and the US are 2nd and 3rd)...the highest frequency, Namibia.

Most common state:CA, highest rate:IA

[Mr. Smith]

Worldwide: 1,562th most common

Top Ten Countries

USA (265th)
Mexico
England
South Africa
Malaysia
Australia
Cambodia (highest per capita...somehow)
Canada
Brazil
Nigeria

Top U.S. States

Texas
California
Florida
Ohio
New York


Highest Per Capita

Mississippi
Kentucky
Arkansas
West Virginia
Alabama

By CA-county

LA
San Diego
Orange
Riverside
San Bernardino

...So it's a SoCal name, yet I live in the north of the state