Famous British surnames. English surnames for men and women. German common surnames

A surname is a family hereditary name. It indicates that a person belongs to the same genus, which originates from some common ancestor. Most people have a generic name foreign languages Of course, the British are no exception. If you try to take apart popular English surnames piece by piece, you can learn a lot of interesting things both about the history and culture of Great Britain, and about the English language itself.

Origin of English surnames

The origin of modern British surnames has deep roots and is closely connected with the culture and history of the country in general and the English language in particular. For a long time, foreign, like Russian, family names, even the most beautiful ones, came from nicknames that were given to certain people. It is impossible to establish exactly when nicknames turned into family names; we only know that this first happened among feudal lords. Family names can be divided into several classes:

1. Ottoponymic or derived from foreign place names (names of counties, cities, provinces, villages, hills, etc.)


2. Oanthroponymous or derived from personal names.


3. Formed from nicknames - epithets (common nouns). Most often, such nicknames described the appearance, behavior, similarity of a person with someone/something, or even hinted at the scope of his activity.

List of English surnames in a table

There are a lot of surnames and we will not try to list them all here. Some generic names are heard more often than others, while others are very rare. We have prepared for you a table with sixty generic names, many of which will probably seem familiar to you.

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The most common English surnames

There are common surnames in every country. Just like the Russians Ivanov Smirnov and Kuznetsov, some British family names are more common than others.

The most common American surnames

American surnames have their roots in nicknames that American residents began to come up with for each other when calling people by their names (which many had the same) became difficult. The list of the most common American surnames largely duplicates British family names, but there are also differences. We have prepared for you a list of the 10 most common American surnames.

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As you know, names in English-speaking countries are not built according to the usual “last name, first name, patronymic” formula. They can consist of two words (John Smith), three or more words (James Peter Williams), they have Junior or Senior additions (Walter White Jr., Walter White Sr) and other features. In this article you will learn how English names are structured, as well as which first and last names are the most popular in the USA and England, and how this popularity has changed over the course of the century.

What does a name consist of?

If we talk about names all over the world, their structure differs greatly in different countries. The most common elements of a name, common to many cultures, are personal name(personal name) and surname, family name (surname, last name, family name). The personal name is given at birth, and the surname is inherited as a common name for the family.

Many cultures have names derived from the parents' given names, usually from the father's name as a patronymic (patronymic), but sometimes from the mother's name (matronymic). In the Scandinavian countries there were no surnames, there were only first names and patronymics. In Norway, surnames were officially introduced in 1923, but in Iceland surnames are still not used. In fact, in Iceland patronymics are used as surnames - the name of the father (less often the mother) with the suffix “son” (son) or “dottir” (daughter), for example: Björk Guðmundsdóttir, literally: Björk, daughter of Guðmundur.

If we talk about England and the USA, then they often use middle name(middle name) - this is the main feature of names in these countries.

Middle Name in England and the USA

A middle or middle name can be given in honor of a saint, relative, family friend, famous person, in fact - in honor of anyone, but more often in honor of a relative, ancestor or saint (in Catholic families). A person may have more than one middle name (Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton) or none at all (James Bond) – This is an optional element of the name.

In the USA, middle name means that part of the name that is located between the personal name (first name) and last name (last name), even if it is not actually a middle name, but, for example, a patronymic (Igor Petrovich Belov).

The middle name in the USA is usually abbreviated as a letter (middle initial), for example: Mary Lee Bianchi - Mary L. Bianchi. In Great Britain, it is customary to write differently: they write either without the middle name (Mary Bianchi), or abbreviate everything except the surname (M. L. Bianchi), or write it in full (Mary Lee Bianchi).

Sometimes there are cases when a person prefers to use his middle name as his main name. In the USA, in this case, the first name is written in abbreviation. For example, J. Edgar Hoover's real name was John, and Edgar was his middle name. His full name sounds like John Edgar Hoover, or J. Edgar Hoover for short. Sometimes the first name is simply omitted, not used, as in the case of the writer Harper Lee. Harper is her middle name, and her personal name is Nelle: Nelle Harper Lee.

In rare cases, a person does not have a full middle name, but only an initial, which cannot be deciphered in any way. An example is Harry Truman. His full name is spelled Harry S. Truman, but the “S” is not spelled. Truman once even told reporters that for this reason “S” should be written without a dot, because it is essentially full name, not a reduction.

There can be two middle names. Such long names are more common among representatives of privileged classes, especially in England, for example John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. While the first middle name is usually someone's personal name, such as Leslie William Nielsen (William is obviously someone's first name), then the second middle name is often someone's last name. Men can extend their middle name using their mother's maiden name, and women can use their maiden name to extend their middle name. For example, Hillary Clinton was Hillary Diane Rodham before her marriage; after her marriage, she left her maiden name as part of her middle name and became Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton.

What does Junior or Senior mean after a name?

If the son's name is exactly the same as the father's, the word "Junior" may be added to the son's name and "Senior" to the father's name to make it easier to distinguish between them. “Junior\Senior” can be used both officially, in documents, and unofficially. In the USA these words are abbreviated as Jr. andSr. (Jnr., Snr. in Great Britain), for example: Walter White Jr., Walter White Sr.

If the White family had three full namesakes - father, son and grandson, instead of Jr. and Sr. Roman numerals would be used: Walter White I (first), Walter White II (second), Walter White III (third).

English names in everyday life

In English-speaking countries, it is common for the full name, including the middle name, to be used only in documents or formal occasions. That is, if a person’s name is Allen William Jones, then many acquaintances may not be aware of the middle name William, because he will introduce himself everywhere as Allen Jones.

Personal names (first name) are often used in abbreviated form, and at the official level. For example, everyone knew the former Prime Minister of Great Britain as Tony Blair, but Tony is a shortened (in fact, even diminutive) form of the name Anthony.

Popular American names: what were boys and girls called in the USA throughout the century?

Popularity of the name Nancy over the course of a century in the United States. A striking example of how name fashions come and go.

Russian names have experienced ups and downs, either suddenly becoming popular or fading into the background. Usually, the fashion for names was associated with events in the country, the world, with the appearance of popular fictional characters, with the popularity of individuals. A striking example is the popularity of the name Yuri after Gagarin’s flight into space.

The fashion for names also exists in English-speaking countries. For example, the popularity of books and films about Harry Potter influenced the popularity of the name Harry, and after the release of the series “Game of Thrones” the name Arya entered the top 100 popular names in the UK. Because of this variability in name fashion, it is difficult to say which English names are currently the most popular. Popular among whom? Born in the 1960s? In the 1990s? Last year?

For comparison, I will provide a table of male and female names that were popular in different years in the United States.

American male names

The popularity of the name Logan in the United States is clearly associated with comics and films about Wolverine

This table shows that the idea of ​​the name John being very popular in America is outdated. It took first place in the 1910s, went to third place in the 1960s, to ninth in the 1980s, and in 2015 it occupies a modest 26th place, losing even to the name Logan, which was not included in the top 100 in earlier periods . Apparently, the popularity of Logan (Wolverine) from films based on Marvel comics had an impact.

The name Daniel, which was not very popular at the beginning of the century (52nd place), fell into 18th place in the ranking in 2015, and Roberts completely went out of fashion. This name was in the top 10 in the 1910s, 1960s and 1980s, but fell to 63rd place in 2015.

Among the “old” names that were popular in the past, James, William, and David are still relevant.

American female names

Popularity chart for the name Emma in the USA

The fashion for women's names is even more changeable than for men's. The most popular name in 2015, Emma, ​​was not at all in demand in the 80s and 60s, and at the beginning of the century was ranked 41st. Emma fashion returned in the 2000s, perhaps Emma Watson helped? The name Mary was very popular at the beginning of the century, but already in the 30s a decline began, and since the 80s this name has become quite rare.

If you take the top 20 names, only Elizabeth was in the top 20 in all four time periods.

Popular English names: what were children called in England throughout the century?

In England, statistics on names and birth data are not kept separately for England, but for England and Wales together, because these two parts of the United Kingdom belong to the same jurisdiction. England and Wales are treated as a single entity for many law-making and enforcement purposes. Data taken from the National Statistics archive.

There are a lot of common names in England and the USA, but the statistics on their popularity are somewhat different. It is interesting that by now there have become quite a lot of names that are equally popular in both the USA and England, especially for women. If you take the names for 2015 in England and the USA, there are many coincidences.

English male names

As in the US, in the UK the hackneyed name John is completely unpopular in 2015, it did not even make it into the top 100, although only 100 years earlier it occupied the first line of the ranking.

It is curious that if you take the first 20 lines, it turns out that in 2015 in England and Wales names that were not included in the top 20 of previous periods are popular. But there are coincidences with the top 20 names popular in the same year in the USA. The names Oliver, Jacob, Noah, William, James, Ethan are as popular in England as in the United States.

English female names

As in the USA, in England the fashion for female names was very fickle. The name Mary was number one in 1914, went to 37th place in 1964, 98th in 1984, and was not even in the top 100 in 2015. The name Isabella was in 81st place in 1914, was not in the top 100 in 1964 and 1984, and now it is among the ten most popular female names in 2015.

As with male names in England and Wales, with women's names there is a trend: if you take the top 20 names of 2015, then among them there will be none of the top 20 of previous years (presented in the table), but there will be significant overlaps with the top 20 names popular in USA in the same 2015. The names Olivia, Sophia, Ava, Isabella, Emily, Ella, Chloe, Grace, Amelia, Mia are equally popular in both England and the USA.

Common English first and last names

Unlike given names, surnames do not change that much over time, since in most cases they are not invented, but inherited. There is no big difference between British and American surnames; there are many common ones among them. The main difference is that in the USA there are many common Latino surnames (Garcia, Martinez, etc.)

OTHER COUNTRIES (select from the list) Australia Austria England Armenia Belgium Bulgaria Hungary Germany Holland Denmark Ireland Iceland Spain Italy Canada Latvia Lithuania New Zealand Norway Poland Russia (Belgorod region) Russia (Moscow) Russia (aggregated by region) Northern Ireland Serbia Slovenia USA Turkey Ukraine Wales Finland France Czech Republic Switzerland Sweden Scotland Estonia

select a country and click on it - a page with lists of popular names will open

USA, 2012–2014

SELECT YEAR 2012–2014 2008–2010

USA. State in North America. The capital is Washington. Population – 304,191,257 (2008). The dominant race (except for the state of Hawaii) is the Caucasian race (immigrants from the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland and other European countries). African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Indians and others account for over a third of the population. The official language (de facto) is English. Religious composition: Protestants - 51.3%, Roman Catholics - 23.9%, Mormons - 1.7%, other Christians - 1.6%, Jews - 1.7%, Buddhists - 0.7%, Muslims - 0 .6%, other unspecified – 2.5%, other not affiliated – 12.1% none – 4% (2004).

The main source for name statistics in the United States is data from the Office of social security USA. His website has a section dedicated to names. Name statistics are given for each year, starting from 1879. It is possible to view it in different sorting - by year, by decade, the first 10 names, the first 20, the first 50, the first 100, the first 1000, by state. The data for these statistics comes from Social Security cards. The most recent data is from 2014. As stated on the website, for the period before 1937, when only a small part of the country's population was covered by Social Security cards, the data on name choice is not comprehensive. It is also reported that different spellings of a name are counted as separate names. It is also noted that linking a name to gender is not always correct. This applies to names that can be either male or female and is explained by the fact that names from those Social Security cards where simply “child” or “unknown” are indicated instead of gender were also taken into account.

Here I want to show only the 25 most common names of 2014. To show the trends in the popularity of names, data for 2013 and 2012 are also provided. More full picture every visitor to this page can find it on the US Social Security Administration website (links at the end of the page). I will also show the similarities and differences in the choice of names between some states. I selected the latter in such a way that the most populous states from different regions of the country were represented: Texas (south), California (west), New York (east), Illinois (closer to the geographic center).

Another interesting source for choosing names in the USA is the website of the New York City Department of Health and Human Hygiene. It contains data on the 10 most common names of newborns in the city for 1898, 1928, 1948, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2002-2010. Also on the organization's website you can find lists of names of newborns with a frequency of 10 and above (for example, for 2009 and 2010), in which names are classified by ethnicity and race. There are four groups on that site: Hispanics (can be of any race), non-Hispanic African Americans, non-Hispanic whites, and Asians and Pacific Islanders.

Boys names

Place	2014	2013	2012
1	Noah	Noah	Jacob

Girls names

Place	2014	2013	2012
1	Emma	Sophia	Sophia

Data on the top 10 names in a number of states (2014)

Boys names

California	Illinois	NY	Texas
California	Illinois	NY	Texas
Noah	Noah	Jacob	Noah
Jacob	Alexander	Liam	Jacob
Ethan	William	Ethan	Daniel
Daniel	Michael	Michael	Liam
Alexander	Liam	Noah	Jayden
Matthew	Jacob	Joseph	Ethan
Jayden	Benjamin	Mason	David
Anthony	Mason	Matthew	Sebastian
Sebastian	Logan	Alexander	Jose
David	Daniel	Lucas	Matthew

Girls names

California	Illinois	NY	Texas
Sophia	Olivia	Sophia	Emma
Isabella	Emma	Olivia	Sophia
Emma	Sophia	Emma	Isabella
Mia	Isabella	Isabella	Mia
Olivia	Ava	Mia	Olivia
Emily	Mia	Ava	Sofia
Sofia	Emily	Emily	Emily
Victoria	Sofia	Abigail	Ava
Abigail	Charlotte	Madison	Abigail
Camila	Grace	Sofia	Victoria

Formed at the end of the 18th century. The American nation is very heterogeneous and currently unites not only the descendants of settlers from all parts of the world, but also the indigenous population - the Indians. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the surnames and names of US residents one can trace various national roots: European, African, South American, Asian. These features often make American surnames and names so interesting and exotic.

How are they formed?

Nicknames, including Indian ones, became the basis for many modern surnames. Also, quite often, surnames were formed from the names of professions (Smith, Miller, Taylor), geographical places (England, Lancaster) and objects (Bush, Rock, Moore), father's name (Johnson, Stevenson) and just names (Stewart, Williams, Henry) , as well as animals, flowers and various objects (Fish, White, Rose, Young).

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a tendency to change difficult-to-pronounce national surnames: shortening, translation, transformation in order to make them similar to English-speaking ones. But in recent decades, a reverse process has been observed: the desire for one’s national and cultural identity, which is manifested in the refusal to Americanize names and surnames. This is especially true for people from African countries, Spain and Latin America. Modern American surnames and given names increasingly emphasize a person's origins.

Inventing pseudonyms is also a very common phenomenon. Most often they are taken creative personalities: musicians, actors, artists.

American names, male and female, are often abbreviated in everyday communication. Examples: Adam - Ed; Gilbert - Gil; Michael - Mike; Robert - Rob, Bob, Bobby, Robbie; Richard - Dick, Richie; Arnold - Arnie; Eleanor - Ellie, Nora; Elizabeth - Lizzie, Liz, Elsa, Betty, Beth; Katherine - Katie, Kat. Young guys (and even mature men) are often addressed by their initials. For example, a man named T.J. Most people you know will probably call Morris TJ.

As in English, American male and female surnames sound exactly the same. In official communication, it is customary to address men by last name with the prefixes “Mister” or “Sir”, and “Miss” or “Mrs.” for women.

Female names

The top ten most beloved girl names by American parents include Isabella, Sofia, Emma, ​​Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Madison, Chloe, Mia.

Women's names are often formed from the names of beautiful plants or precious stones. Examples: Rose, Daisy, Olive, Evie (Ivy), Lilly, Violet, Ruby, Beryl, Jade, etc.

Male names

According to statistics, American parents most often name boys Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Jayden, William, Alexander, Noah, Daniel, Aiden, Anthony.

There is a strong tradition of naming after a father or grandfather. In this case, the word “junior” (junior) or a serial name is added to the name: second, third, etc. For example: Anthony White Junior, Christian Bell Second.

American male names are often consonant with surnames (White, Johnson, Davis, Alexander, Carter, Neal, Lewis, etc.). And all because once upon a time both of them were formed from nicknames.

The most popular American surnames

More than two million people in the United States bear the surnames Smith and Johnson. With slightly more modest results (over a million people) follow the holders of the surnames Williams, Jones, Brown, Davis and Miller. Wilson, Moore and Taylor round out the top ten.

The most beautiful American surnames and names

Of course, there is no arguing about tastes, but you can still highlight a list of the most euphonious and even poetic names. Some of them were specially formed from suitable English words: Summer - “summer”, Joy - “joy”, May - “May”, Love - “love”, Hart - “heart”, etc.

• Alisha.
• Bonnie.
• Vanessa.
• Gladys.
• Jade.
• Imogen.
• Cassandra.
• Lillian.
• Miriam.
• Nancy.
• Olivia.
• Pamela.
• Sabrina.
• Tess.
• Heidi.
• Angie.

• Alex.
• Brandon.
• Darren.
• Kyle.
• Mitchell.
• Nicholas.
• Peter.
• Ronald.
• Stephen.
• Walter.
• Fraser.
• Hunter.
• Charlie.
• Sheldon.
• Adrian.

There are not only beautiful American names, but also surnames.

For example:

• Beverly.
• Washington.
• Green.
• Crawford.
• Aldridge.
• Robinson.
• Stone.
• Florence.
• Wallace.
• Harris.
• Evans.

In general, given names and surnames in the USA can be found to have different origins: Smith, Will - English; Miller, Brunner, Martha - German; Gonzales, Federico, Dolores - Spanish; Magnus, Sven - Swedish; Peterson, Jensen - Danish; Patrick, Donovan, O'Brien, McGill - Irish; Mario, Ruth - Portuguese; Isabella, Antonio, de Vito - Italian; Paul, Vivien - French; Lee is Chinese, etc. Combinations are not uncommon when the name is purely American, but the surname contains National character. Or vice versa. For example: Martha Roberts, Brandon Lee, etc.

The more you study American surnames and names, the more interesting discoveries you can make. In addition, the American nation is still being formed, so it is possible that soon new unusual and beautiful names of various origins will appear in the everyday life of the inhabitants of this country.

We often like to imagine what our name would be in English. For example, Elena - Helen, Evgeniy - Eugene, Mikhail - Michael, etc. English names are very different from ours. Sometimes it’s even difficult to understand the male or female name in front of you.

If we talk about names in the USA and Great Britain, they consist of personal name(personal name, first name, given name) and surnames(surname, last name, family name). The personal name is given at birth, and the surname is inherited as a common name for the family. The child may also be given a middle or middle name. This is an optional name element. The second name can be given in honor of a saint, relative, family friend, famous person, etc. In writing, the middle name is usually omitted or shortened to an initial.

If the son's name is exactly the same as the father's name, the word "Junior" (junior) can be added to the son's name and "Senior" (senior) to the father's name to make it easier to distinguish between them.

Popular English female names

Popular English male names

Popular English surnames

Bearers of the surnames Jones (Jones), Smith (Smith), Williams (Williams), Black (Black), Wilson (Wilson) according to statistics, more than a million. Below is a list of other popular surnames in the UK and US.