The U.S. Census Bureau released on April 14 a series of data tables showing the most common first and last names reported in the 2020 Census.
The release provides new insight into naming trends in the United States, including breakdowns by race, Hispanic origin, and sex. This information helps researchers, genealogists, and the public better understand changes in population diversity over time.
According to the announcement, national-level counts are now available for last names by race and Hispanic origin as well as first names by race, Hispanic origin, and sex. The data also include a summary table comparing the most common names from several past censuses—1790, 1990, 2000, 2010—and now 2020.
This is the first census since 1990 to offer data on first names in addition to surnames. The report notes that eight of the top fifteen last names—Brown, Davis, Johnson, Jones, Miller, Smith, Williams and Wilson—have remained among the top fifteen since America’s first census in 1790. However, predominantly Hispanic surnames such as Garcia (with ninety-one percent identifying as Hispanic), Gonzalez, Hernandez, Lopez, Martinez and Rodriguez have entered the top fifteen since 2000.
The data show that between 2010 and 2020 nearly all of the fastest-growing last names among the top one thousand were predominantly Asian—a shift from previous decades reflecting changing immigration patterns. In contrast to male-dominated lists of popular given names despite women outnumbering men nationally in 2020 statistics suggest female given names are more varied than male ones.
The bureau states that “the files contain only frequency of first or last names” without any information about specific individuals or name combinations. Statistical safeguards are used to protect respondent confidentiality.
Full datasets and methodology can be accessed on census.gov through links provided on both their main site and genealogy pages.
