Sure, we all know Smith and Johnson, but what about the rest of the top ten? A surprisingly cool website, names.whitepages.com, gives us a look at all names–first and last–in the U.S.

This site really breaks things down, too. Type in “John” and we see that it is the most common name in America, that over 4 million men have that name, that is originates from the Greek Iōannēs, that northeast America has the highest percentage of Johns, and that the name is way more common with old men than with children.

How about a less common name like Miranda? It’s the 711th most popular in America:

#710Andres

#711Miranda

#712Neal

North Dakota has more Miranda’s per capita than any other state. Half of all Mirandas are 0-12 years old. And it originates from the Latin “mirandus” meaning “admirable, lovely”.

Let’s try one more. How about Brandon? 🙂

Any guesses on how popular this name is? Top 50? Top 100?

Not quite:

#150Walter

#151Aaron

#152Brandon

#153Frances

#154Leslie

Utah has the highest Brandon per capita

 

But this is America, the melting pot. Let’s look at some names associated with minority populations:

Going down the list, the first one I found was Jose at #43:

#41George

#42Gary

#43Jose

#44Anthony

#45Melissa

Then I decided to go fishing and typed in some typical ethnic names. The first was Fadumo which is a female Somali name. All the Fadumos on America only add up to be ranked #11,875:

#11,873Azadeh

#11,874Crissie

#11,875Fadumo

#11,876Jamesetta

#11,877Janece

And in case you’re looking for a reason to call Minnesota #1, rest assured knowing that there are by far more Fadumos here than in any other state! Whoo hoo! Of the 648 Fadumos, Minnesota has 256 of them.

How about the female Vietnamese name, Trang:

#2,081Migdalia

#2,082Buck

#2,083Trang

#2,084Anabel

#2,085Stacia

California, had by far the most Trangs.

And lastly, how about the Russian boy’s name: Sergei

#5,377Assunta

#5,378Miesha

#5,379Sergei

#5,380Kenji

#5,381Sina

Interestingly, Alaska has the most Sergeis per capita. Perhaps they swim the Bering Strait.

 

Let’s wrap up this blog with the top ten most common first names in America:

#1John

#2Michael

#3James

#4Robert

#5David

#6Mary

#7William

#8Richard

#9Thomas

#10Jennifer

Only two women’s names. I guess parents are more original when it comes to naming their baby girls.

And we conclude with the top ten surnames in America:

#1Smith

#2Johnson

#3Williams

#4Brown

#5Jones

#6Miller

#7Davis

#8Wilson

#9Anderson

#10Garcia

#11Rodriguez