Most Common First Names and Last Names in the 2020 Census

Census.gov ^ | 4-14-2026 | Census.gov

[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

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: census; names

[Steven Scharf]

Some interesting info on American first and last names. I have not reviewed it all, but should be fun reading.

[GSWarrior]

I am the only person in the world with my name, for better or worse.

[Steven Scharf]

Important to note this is all names in the census, not 2020 births.

Top 30 names in America

Frequently Occurring First Names in the 2020 Census by Sex: Top 1,000 First Names

FIRST NAME RANK FREQUENCY (COUNT)
MICHAEL 1 3,476,721
JOHN 2 3,125,123
JAMES 3 2,996,421
DAVID 4 2,813,017
ROBERT 5 2,759,339
WILLIAM 6 2,240,114
MARY 7 1,768,343
MARIA 8 1,652,966
DANIEL 9 1,607,193
JOSEPH 10 1,600,667
RICHARD 11 1,575,998
THOMAS 12 1,506,606
CHRISTOPHER 13 1,499,872
JENNIFER 14 1,331,077
MATTHEW 15 1,315,151
JOSE 16 1,211,106
CHARLES 17 1,207,972
ELIZABETH 18 1,206,652
PATRICIA 19 1,189,825
LINDA 20 1,164,876
MARK 21 1,135,541
ANDREW 22 1,075,513
ANTHONY 23 1,075,181
KEVIN 24 1,015,227
BRIAN 25 1,011,020
SUSAN 26 979,771
STEVEN 27 972,808
JESSICA 28 957,447
BARBARA 29 943,006
JOSHUA 30 939,718

[Steven Scharf]

More readable

Frequently Occurring First Names in the 2020 Census by Sex: Top 1,000 First Names
FIRST NAME. . . . . . . RANK. . . . . . . FREQUENCY (COUNT)
MICHAEL. . . . . . . 1. . . . . . . 3,476,721
JOHN. . . . . . . 2. . . . . . . 3,125,123
JAMES. . . . . . . 3. . . . . . . 2,996,421
DAVID. . . . . . . 4. . . . . . . 2,813,017
ROBERT. . . . . . . 5. . . . . . . 2,759,339
WILLIAM. . . . . . . 6. . . . . . . 2,240,114
MARY. . . . . . . 7. . . . . . . 1,768,343
MARIA. . . . . . . 8. . . . . . . 1,652,966
DANIEL. . . . . . . 9. . . . . . . 1,607,193
JOSEPH. . . . . . . 10. . . . . . . 1,600,667
RICHARD. . . . . . . 11. . . . . . . 1,575,998
THOMAS. . . . . . . 12. . . . . . . 1,506,606
CHRISTOPHER. . . . . . . 13. . . . . . . 1,499,872
JENNIFER. . . . . . . 14. . . . . . . 1,331,077
MATTHEW. . . . . . . 15. . . . . . . 1,315,151
JOSE. . . . . . . 16. . . . . . . 1,211,106
CHARLES. . . . . . . 17. . . . . . . 1,207,972
ELIZABETH. . . . . . . 18. . . . . . . 1,206,652
PATRICIA. . . . . . . 19. . . . . . . 1,189,825
LINDA. . . . . . . 20. . . . . . . 1,164,876
MARK. . . . . . . 21. . . . . . . 1,135,541
ANDREW. . . . . . . 22. . . . . . . 1,075,513
ANTHONY. . . . . . . 23. . . . . . . 1,075,181
KEVIN. . . . . . . 24. . . . . . . 1,015,227
BRIAN. . . . . . . 25. . . . . . . 1,011,020
SUSAN. . . . . . . 26. . . . . . . 979,771
STEVEN. . . . . . . 27. . . . . . . 972,808
JESSICA. . . . . . . 28. . . . . . . 957,447
BARBARA. . . . . . . 29. . . . . . . 943,006
JOSHUA. . . . . . . 30. . . . . . . 939,718

[V_TWIN]

Interesting that the top 4 are in the Bible as well as many others on the list.

[Steven Scharf]

Frequently Occurring Last Names in the 2020 Census by Race and Hispanic Origin: Top 1,000 Last Names

LAST NAME. . . . . . . RANK. . . . . . . FREQUENCY (COUNT)
SMITH. . . . . . . 1. . . . . . . 2,369,644
JOHNSON. . . . . . . 2. . . . . . . 1,858,234
WILLIAMS. . . . . . . 3. . . . . . . 1,561,395
BROWN. . . . . . . 4. . . . . . . 1,386,083
JONES. . . . . . . 5. . . . . . . 1,383,250
GARCIA. . . . . . . 6. . . . . . . 1,149,510
MILLER. . . . . . . 7. . . . . . . 1,129,186
RODRIGUEZ. . . . . . . 8. . . . . . . 1,085,838
DAVIS. . . . . . . 9. . . . . . . 1,074,448
MARTINEZ. . . . . . . 10. . . . . . . 1,039,848
HERNANDEZ. . . . . . . 11. . . . . . . 1,013,895
LOPEZ. . . . . . . 12. . . . . . . 878,958
GONZALEZ. . . . . . . 13. . . . . . . 828,405
WILSON. . . . . . . 14. . . . . . . 777,275
ANDERSON. . . . . . . 15. . . . . . . 756,560
THOMAS. . . . . . . 16. . . . . . . 734,345
TAYLOR. . . . . . . 17. . . . . . . 723,758
MOORE. . . . . . . 18. . . . . . . 696,384
LEE. . . . . . . 19. . . . . . . 695,657
JACKSON. . . . . . . 20. . . . . . . 686,937
PEREZ. . . . . . . 21. . . . . . . 680,712
MARTIN. . . . . . . 22. . . . . . . 678,691
THOMPSON. . . . . . . 23. . . . . . . 640,099
WHITE. . . . . . . 24. . . . . . . 636,798
SANCHEZ. . . . . . . 25. . . . . . . 607,848
HARRIS. . . . . . . 26. . . . . . . 603,371
RAMIREZ. . . . . . . 27. . . . . . . 544,204
CLARK. . . . . . . 28. . . . . . . 539,661
NGUYEN. . . . . . . 29. . . . . . . 531,404
LEWIS. . . . . . . 30. . . . . . . 515,459

This tells a differnt story.

[Presbyterian Reporter]

MARIA 8 1,652,966

JOSE 16 1,211,106

So Maria and Jose are in the top 30 in 2020.

I suspect Maria and Jose were not among the top 30 in 2000.

Open borders do have an impact.

[Does so]

I once lived in a small community of a dozen homes. You had to specify which “Bob” of five Bobs—among four families!

[Presbyterian Reporter]

GARCIA. . . . . . . 6. . . . . . . 1,149,510
RODRIGUEZ. . . . . . . 8. . . . . . . 1,085,838
MARTINEZ. . . . . . . 10. . . . . . . 1,039,848
HERNANDEZ. . . . . . . 11. . . . . . . 1,013,895
LOPEZ. . . . . . . 12. . . . . . . 878,958
GONZALEZ. . . . . . . 13. . . . . . . 828,405
PEREZ. . . . . . . 21. . . . . . . 680,712
SANCHEZ. . . . . . . 25. . . . . . . 607,848
RAMIREZ. . . . . . . 27. . . . . . . 544,204

So we have 9 Hispanics out of the top 30.

As I wrote earlier I doubt that was the case in 2000.

[SeekAndFind]

Well thank goodness the name Muhammad isn’t as prevalent here in the USA as it is in the UK ( I read somewhere that it is already the most common name there ).

[Antoninus]

I suspect Maria and Jose were not among the top 30 in 2000.

Every Maria I know is not Hispanic. Jose, on the other hand...

[TexasFreeper2009]

I have never understood the muslim tendency to name all male children Mohammad. It is frankly annoying, not even because I hate Islam, but just because I would find it just an annoying if all Christians named their male children Jesus.

I dont want everyone I know having the same name.

[x]

This is everybody. The most common first names now are very different. Not many Roberts being born now.

[Verginius Rufus]

Maria von Trapp of the Trapp Family Singers was not Hispanic.

[Clutch Martin]

Γιώργος isn’t even listed

[woodbutcher1963]

We have four Eric’s (although one is Erik) in the office.
We have three Jim’s.

I am just glad Mohamed did not make the top twenty.

[MotorCityBuck]

Ichabod needs to make a comeback,

[woodbutcher1963]

The Maria in my office is Germany/Italian

[Steven Scharf]

Correct. I think the Social Secuity Adminstration publsihes list of baby names, etc.

This is a list of people recorded in the 2020 census and is only the 1,000 most popular names.

And in response to another comment, this is the first year the Census Bureau has done first names.

[dfwgator]

Jose, on the other hand...

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It’s even in our National Anthem.....”Jose can you see?”