Why is Smith a common last name?
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Why is Smith a common last name?
Fast forward to the 1600s, and the first settlers to New England, America were ‘Smiths’. Blake then explains how Native Americans adopted the name to become more Anglicized and slave owners gave the name “Smith” to African slaves. Now 20 per cent of all Smiths in the US today are black Americans.
Is Smith a common last name?
Smith is the most common last name in the United States, followed by Johnson, Miller, Jones, Williams, and Anderson, according to genealogy company Ancestry.com. The name Smith was likely derived from blacksmiths.
What is the ancestry of the name Smith?
Smith is an Anglo-Saxon name. It is derived from the Old English word smid, probably derived form “smitan,” which meant “to strike with a hammer.” As metal worker was such a common and important profession in Medieval times, this name and its cognates are extremely widespread throughout the British Isles and Europe.
How common is the last name Smith in the US?
| name | rank | Number of people |
|---|---|---|
| name SMITH | rank 1 | Number of people 2,442,977 |
| name JOHNSON | rank 2 | Number of people 1,932,812 |
| name WILLIAMS | rank 3 | Number of people 1,625,252 |
| name BROWN | rank 4 | Number of people 1,437,026 |
What ethnicity is Smith?
The surname Smith is particularly prevalent among those of English, Scottish, and Irish descent, but is also a common surname among African Americans, which can be attributed either to black slaves having been given the surname of their masters, or to being an occupational name, as some southern American black people …
Is Smith a gypsy name?
Common Gypsy names. You may have Gypsy ancestry if your family tree includes common Gypsy surnames such as Boswell, Buckland, Codona, Cooper, Doe, Lee, Gray (or Grey), Hearn, Heron, Hodgkins, Holland, Lee, Lovell, Loveridge, Smith, Wood and Young.
Where does the last name Smith come from?
During the periods of slavery in the United States and United Kingdom, many slaves adopted the name of their masters, which is why the name ‘Smith’ is still common among some African Americans today. Similarly, the most popular surname in Luxembourg is ‘Schmit’, which derives from a similar German root.
Is Smith a common name in Australia?
Smithis a surname[3]originating in England. It is the most prevalent surname in the United Kingdom,[4][1]Australia, Canada, New Zealandand the United States,[5]and the fifth most common surname in the Republic of Ireland.
What percentage of Americans have both first and last name Smith?
According to WhitePages.com, 3,153,792 Americans have both their first and last names from these lists. Of this group, 8.62 percent are named John, and 12.15 percent are named Smith, so it might be expected that the product of these two percentages—namely 1.04733 percent, or 33,031 people—would be named John Smith.
What is the geographic distribution of the last name Smith?
Geographical distribution. As of 2014, 64.3\% of all known bearers of the surname Smith were residents of the United States (frequency 1:121), 13.7\% of England (1:88), 4.2\% of Canada (1:191), 4.0\% of Australia (1:130), 3.9\% of South Africa (1:295), 1.4\% of Scotland (1:84) and 1.0\% of Jamaica (1:62). In Scotland,…