Last Names Info Page

National Rank

All names are classified by a unique rank based on popularity and then by alphabetical order. The most popular name is given the 1st rank, where popularity is determined by the number of occurrences of the name in the MyNameStats.com database. The rank is determined alphabetically for names with the same number of occurrences, from A (1st rank) to Z. No two names will have the same rank.

Percentile Rank

This shows the percentage of names that are less popular than the specified name. For example the last name Smith is the most popular and obviously all the other names are less popular. 100% of the names are less popular thus the percentile rank for Smith is 1.00. Now take a name such as Smiszek which is far less popular than Smith, it has an estimated population of 42, and a percentile rank of 0.60. This can be interpreted as, the name Smiszek is more popular than 60% of all names.

Why use percentile rank instead of a simple rank (ie: National Rank)? The national rank is interesting when it comes to the most popular names like Smith, Johnson, Wilson and Miller etc... One can see that Miller is ranked 6 and Wilson is ranked 10. These names will all have a percentile rank of 1, or very close to 1, so percentile does not tell us much. As names move down in rank, the national rank become less meaningful. Take a name like Smoot, it is ranked 4,191st nationally and surprisingly, it also has percentile rank of 1.00 (actually it is slightly less than 1 but due to rounding it displays as 1.00). So we can conclude that although there is a difference in popularity between Miller and Smoot the difference is relatively small when compared to the very large number of less popular names (99%).

Another great thing about percentile rank is that it allows us to compare different distributions. For example, compare the popularity of the name Johannes as a first name to this same name as a last name. The national rank for Johannes as first name is 3,469 and as a last name it is 8278th. So it looks like there is a sizable difference. This may lead us to conclude that Johannes is used more as a first name. But national rank is not a good measure as there are far more last names than first names. Let's compare the percentile ranks, as a first name it is 0.99 and as a last name 0.99, thus we conclude that the name is equally popular as a first or last name.

Population Estimate

To estimate the population a sample proportion is calculated using data from the MyNameStats.com database and it is multiplied by the US population estimate provided by the US Census Bureau for July 2017. An estimation range is provided for the users to show the degree of certainty of the population estimate. Popular names such as Smith have a relatively high degree of certainty resulting in a narrow range, in the order of less than 1%. Whereas, less common names have a lower degree of certainty and a wider range. The population estimates are calculated using a confidence interval of 95%.

Proportion/100k

This is the percentage of people with the specific name, times one thousand. Since there are relatively few people that have any one name, the percentage is almost always less than 1%. For example the most popular last name Smith is held by only 0.82% of the population and the name Hall, the 20th most popular name, is held by 0.2% of the population. By multiplying these numbers by 1000, the figures are a little easier to read and compare, Smith's proportion per 100k is 823.9 and Hall's is 214.8.

Additionally proportion per 100k is a standardized measure of popularity that allows users to compare the frequency of occurrence without the bias of population size. This is most relevant when comparing names among states. States with large populations will often have more people with any given name than a smaller state despite the fact that the concentration of people with that name may be higher in a smaller state. Take the name Smith as an example, there are 208k people named Smith in California and only 102k in Pennsylvania. Whereas there are 799.7 Smith's for every 100k Pennsylvanians and only 536.9 Smith's for every 100k Californians.

US Census Bureau Statistics

We have taken data published by the US Census Bureau and we have calculated the population and proportion per 100k statistics for family name.

Every ten year the Census Bureau releases a report showing the occurence of last names collected during the Census. The published data includes a count of only the top decile of family names (that is the top 10%). So the list excludes the less popular names. We show this data here to provide a benchmark to which one can compare statistics from MyNameStats.com's own data.

First vs. Last

A ratio that compares the occurrences of the name used as a first name versus a last name. This metric is calculated from the MyNameStats.com data. The vertical bar indicates the relative value. The further the bar is to the left more it is used as a first name.

Distribution by Race and Hispanic Origin

The race and Hispanic origin figures for last names, in most instances, is taken directly from data that is publicly available from the US Census bureau and that was gather during the 2000 Census. For last names that are not included in the census data, the values are inferred from the first names data as well as from geographic race distribution data from the US Census bureau. Much work has been put into developing the algorithm to determine the race of the names, however the reliability of the results varies. More popular names tend to have more reliable results.

The vertical blue bars represent the distribution by race and Hispanic origin of the bearers of the name. The horizontal yellow lines represent the distribution by race and Hispanic origin over the US population as a whole. The yellow lines can be seen as an average.

To interpret the graph, when a blue bar extends past the yellow line, the name is popular with people of that race and when it is below the line then it is unpopular. For example the name John is shown as being 81% white, whereas only 63.9% of population in the US is white. Only 4% of John's are of Hispanic origin and in the US 16.3% of the population is of Hispanic origin. Therefore we conclude that a person named John is more likely to be white, and it would be unlikely to meet a John of Hispanic origin.

Take note that the term Hispanic origin, includes people of any race that identify themselves as being of Hispanic origin. All other race groups exclude people of Hispanic origin from the data. That is if a person is a Black Hispanic American, that person will be counted as being part of the Hispanic origin group and excluded from the Black group.

Ethnic and Cultural Name Categories

The ethnic and cultural name groupings are taken from a variety of sources, including national statistic offices and other governmental organizations such as the US Census Bureau, the Social Security Administration, and name categories published on Wikipedia.

The groupings are not mutually exclusive, that is if a name appears on two lists, both categories will be displayed. When a last name appears on a list as a first name, the first name category is still displayed.

Heat Map

A heat-map shows the states where the names are most popular. Purple represents the states where the name is most popular. Red represents the states where the name is least popular. Grey represents the states where for which there is insufficient data available. The popularity is based on the proportion / 100k.

Charts and Tables

The states are sorted by region to make it easier to find the state that you are looking for. Within each region the states are sorted alphabetically. Statistics are provided for 50 states and the District of Columbia. Puerto Rico and the other US territories are excluded from the dataset. The yellow vertical lines represent the national average projected onto each state. The state population is represented by the blue bars and the state proportion per 100k is represented by the green bars.

The green and blue bars are displayed using a logarithmic scale, that is, the difference in length of the bar is bigger for smaller values, and smaller for big values. What this means is that the difference in the length of the bar will be noticeably bigger between population values of 10 and 20, and will not be distinguishable for values between 100,000 and 100,020. This is done to make up for the wide range of values in the state populations. Without this scaling, states such as Hawaii and Delaware, would always have very short bars, whereas states such as California and Texas would always have very long bars, thus making actual differences in the population of the name indistinguishable.

State Population

A sample proportion is calculated using state data from the MyNameStats.com database and is multiplied by the US state population estimate provided by the US Census Bureau for July 2017. The population estimates are calculated using a confidence interval of 95%.

If the blue bar extends past the yellow vertical line then the name in question is more popular in this state than in the US overall. Conversely, if the bar falls short, ends to the right of the yellow line then the name is less popular in that state. The values of these yellow lines are calculated by multiplying the national proportion/100k by the state population then dividing by 100k, which provides a hypothetical state population estimate based on the national average.

State Proportion/100k

This is the number of people with a family name per hundred thousand residents of the given state. It is a relative measure of popularity that allows one to compare the frequency of occurrence without the bias of state population size. Thus allowing an easier comparison between states. States with large populations will often have more people with the name in question as compared to a smaller state despite the fact that the concentration of people with that name may be higher in a smaller state.

The vertical yellow lines for proportion per 100k, are the national proportion per 100k shown on the same scale as the state proportion. As with population, when the green bar extends past the yellow line then the name is more popular in that state and when the green bar falls short of the yellow line then the name is less popular.

Percentile Rank in State

This is the percentage of names in the state that are less popular than the name displayed on the page. See Percentile Rank in the National Statistics section above for a more detailed explanation.

Top 20 Full Names

The top 20 full names for a specific last name consist of a pairing of the most likely given names to be paired with the last name. The names may or may not be the names of an actual person. The pairing is determined algorithmically through the analysis of a variety factors.

Note it is possible that your name appears on these lists or elsewhere on the site as there is a very large number of names displayed throughout the site. The appearance of your name on this site does not indicate that we possess any personal data about you or your family. MyNameStats.com does not possess personally identifiable, confidential or sensitive data about any person. All information displayed on the site is inferred and aggregated, no primary data is ever displayed, shared or sold to third parties.

MyNameStats.com is website about names, not about individuals.

Similar Names

All the names in the database are compared against each other to determine which names are the most similar. Two groups of similar names are shown, similar first names and similar last names. Of the groupings of similar names up to ten are shown. These top ten are selected based on similarity and popularity together. Fewer than ten names can be shown when there are not enough names found that meet the similarity and popularity criteria. Two icons are shown at the right of each name. The red icon "Stats" is a button that links to the statistics page for that similar name. The green icon "Compare" is a button that links to the MyNameStats.com comparison engine that compares the similar name to the current name.

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