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 information about naming trends in the United States, including how they have changed over time and how they reflect shifts in population demographics.
According to the announcement, the new data tables include national-level counts of last names by race and Hispanic origin, first names by race and Hispanic origin, as well as first names by sex. A summary table is also available comparing the most common names from previous censuses—1790, 1990, 2000, 2010—and now 2020.
The bureau said it has produced counts of common surnames since the 1990 Census. The current release marks the first time since then that data on first names is included. The term “predominantly” is used where a majority of people with a listed name identified with one race or sex category; for example, “Garcia” is described as predominantly Hispanic because “91% of the people named Garcia chose Hispanic in their response to the 2020 Census.” Eight surnames—Brown, Davis, Johnson, Jones, Miller, Smith, Williams and Wilson—have remained among the top fifteen since America’s first census in 1790.
One notable change is that six predominantly Hispanic surnames (Garcia, Gonzalez, Hernandez, Lopez, Martinez and Rodriguez) have entered the top fifteen since 2000. Between 2010 and 2020 all but one of the fastest-growing last names among those ranked in the top thousand were predominantly Asian—a shift from previous decades that reflects changing immigration patterns.
Although women outnumbered men nationally in 2020 according to census figures provided by officials previously,”the top five most common first names were all predominantly male,” indicating greater variety among female given names than male ones. Most leading given names remain strongly associated with one gender—for example Michael or Mary—but some like Harley or Quinn are nearly evenly split between males and females.
The files published contain only frequencies for individual first or last names; no personal information or combinations are included. Statistical safeguards are applied to protect confidentiality for all respondents’ answers.
