Smith, Meet Lopez

Smith is still the most popular surname in the United States, but it’s starting to feel the heat from Garcia, Rodriguez and Lopez, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

It’s actually amazing how long the surnames Smith, Johnson and Williams have been 1, 2 and 3 on the list of most popular family names.

Those surnames names were numbers 1, 2 and 3 in 1990 census – and again in 2000, and again in 2010.

However, there was some change in the listings over these decades.

For instance, there wasn’t a single Hispanic surname in the top 15 in 1990, but there were four in 2000 (Garcia came in #8 that year, while Rodriguez was #9, Martinez was #11 and Hernandez was #15).

In 2010, Garcia clocked in at #6. Other Hispanic surnames ranking high were Rodriguez (#9), Martinez (#10), Hernandez (#11), Lopez (#12) and Gonzalez (#13).

None of these surnames is a threat to Smith, yet. We’ll see what 2020 brings.

And for all of you who feel antsy about “foreign” names taking over from all-American ones, just remember that “Smith, Johnson and Williams” started out as “Schmidt, Johansson and, um, William”. Most of us American families were “foreigners” once.