Posted on 04/14/2026 8:30:31 AM PDT by Steven Scharf
Most Common First Names and Last Names in the 2020 Census April 14, 2026 Press Release Number: CB26-TPS.23
APRIL 14, 2026 — The U.S. Census Bureau today released a series of data tables of the most common first and last names reported in the 2020 Census.
The tables include national-level counts of:
Last names by race and Hispanic origin. First names by race and Hispanic origin. First names by sex.
A summary table is also available that compares the most common names in the 1790 Census with those in the 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 Censuses.
The Census Bureau has produced counts of the most common surnames (last names) in each census since the 1990 Census. The 2020 Census is the first since 1990 to provide data on first names.
In the listed Highlights, the term “predominantly” is used where the majority of the people with the listed names identified with a single race, Hispanic origin, or sex category. For example, “Garcia” is a predominantly Hispanic last name because 91% of the people named Garcia chose Hispanic in their response to the 2020 Census.
Highlights Eight of the top 15 last names in 1790, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020 have stayed in the top 15 since the first census in 1790. The names are Brown, Davis, Johnson, Jones, Miller, Smith, Williams and Wilson.
The most notable change over time in the top 15 surnames is the addition of predominantly Hispanic last names. Since 2000, six Hispanic last names have joined the top 15. They are Garcia, Gonzalez, Hernandez, Lopez, Martinez and Rodriguez.
Between 2010 and 2020, all but one of the fastest-growing last names among the top 1,000 were predominantly Asian. The list of fastest-growing last names between 2000 and 2010 had only 11 Asian surnames. This change reflects the shift in immigration patterns. Even though the number of women exceeded the number of men in the United States in 2020, the top five most common first names were all predominantly male. This shows female names have more variety than male names.
In 2020, most first names were almost entirely male, such as Michael, John and James, or almost entirely female, such as Mary, Maria and Jennifer. There were also several first names among the top 1,000 that were close to a 50/50 split between males and females, such as Harley, Emerson and Quinn. For these names, the probability of an individual being male or female is nearly equal.
More highlights are available in the America Counts story "Eight of the Nation’s Top 15 Last Names Stayed the Same Since 1790." https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2026/04/2020-census-names-data.html
The files contain only the frequency of first names or last names and do not include information about specific individuals or first and last name combinations. The Census Bureau also uses statistical safeguards to protect the confidentiality of the underlying responses.
Access the full datasets and methodology of the most common first (https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/c2020br-13.pdf) and last (https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/c2020br-14.pdf) names from the 2020 Census on the census.gov webpage.
Visit https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2020_names.html
Apparently the most common given name combinations are:
James Smith, closely followed by David Smith is the most common full name.
Maria Garcia is the most common female combination, followed by Mary Smith.
Generalizations are just that. Wilson is very much a Hispanic last name. Some 5 generation US citizens have Hispanic names, such as the police offer in Chicago whose ancestry is 5 generations in the hills of WV. Many marriages are inter-ethnic. In a mixed marriage if the man has a Hispanic last name, his kids do. But if it is the woman who is Hispanic, the kids don’t.
Becareful with generalizations.
I got in contact with the Egyptian Commanding General and he provided seven lieutenant colonels - all named Mohammed - as Liaison Officers for the exercise.
They were excellent officers but I could see a problem with the names, so I named them "Mohammed Waahid", "Mohammed Ithnaan", "Mohammed Talatta", and so on (Mohammed 1, Mohammed 2,.) They thought it was hilarious and it stayed our naming convention throughout the exercise...
Turned to be a great exercise in that nobody was killed, though there were some close calls with the Air Force.
Biblically, what you named your child would relate to an experience during or relating to their birth.
I wish that were still the case.
No Hingle McCringleberry?
Key & Peele, football player names episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss
My son, born in 1996, is Robert, named after my father. He was the only Bobby in his class all through school and has yet to meet another Bob or Bobby.
James is the third most common first name and Smith is the most common second name. That reminds me of a story a few years ago about an organization with a name something like The Jim Smith Society. They have a convention every year, and they all wear name tags saying, “Hi, I’m Jim Smith.”
My name is in the top 20. But I haven’t seen a kid with the name in ages.
It’s too bad. It’s a great name.
Hi, I’m your neighbor, Bob. This is your other neighbor, Bob. And this is...
Stepping outside the garage on a Saturday morning in a loud voice... hey, Bob, I could use some help over here. See how many show up. Those will be the good Bobs.
Emerson Garcia. Wow!
I thought for sure Nicholas or Nick would be in the top 30.
In the 1920s and 1930s Robert was the most popular male baby name in the country. It finally left the top 10 in the 1990s (down to 20th place) and it’s fallen much further since then.
Many years ago I went to a meeting with my mother of some conservative organization. My mother was taking notes while someone was talking—he mentioned someone named Jose but I saw my mother had written it down as Hosea. Or maybe it was the other way around (this was more than 40 years ago).
Right after Percival
It seems like girls are more likely to get names like Madison, Addison, Peyton, Paisely, Riley, Harper, or McKenzie. If you hear a name like that they odds wouldn't be equal. Maybe Avery or Cameron or Parker could be either
Brother Robert was born in 1936. I’m Mary.
All but Maria and Jose are names of my family and friends. Mother said our heritage was Heiz 57, all those 8 great tomatoes in one little, bitty can. That way we could celebrate all the different ethnic holidays, instead of just be limited to one.
By the 1940s the top ten were
James, Robert, John, William, Richard, David, Charles, Thomas, Michael and Ronald. George had dropped to #15 and Joseph to #13. By the 1950s Michael had risen to #2 and George had dropped to #33.
That looks like the list of graduates from my granddaughter’s high school.
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