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Most Common Surnames in the US Quiz

How well do you know the most common surnames in the US? Floored turns the ranking into a building: floor 1 is the top of the list. We name a floor, you guess what's on it, and the lift rides to whatever you picked so you know to go higher or lower.

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How it works

You get a few guesses per floor. Land it on your first guess for 10 points; a near miss still scores. After the surnames round, four more lists keep the ride going.

Show the full ranking (30)
  1. Smith 2,369,644 people
    The 2020 Census counted about 73,000 fewer Smiths than the 2010 Census did.
  2. Johnson 1,858,234 people
    Two US presidents had it: Andrew Johnson and Lyndon B. Johnson.
  3. Williams 1,561,395 people
    It comes from the Germanic name Wilhelm, from words for 'will' and 'helmet'.
  4. Brown 1,386,083 people
    It began as a nickname for someone with brown hair, skin or clothing.
  5. Jones 1,383,250 people
    In Wales it is an anglicized form of 'ap Sion', meaning son of John.
  6. Garcia 1,149,510 people
    It may come from a Basque name, Gaztea, later Castilianized to Garcia.
  7. Miller 1,129,186 people
    Some American Millers descend from Germans named Muller or Mueller.
  8. Rodriguez 1,085,838 people
    It means 'son of Rodrigo', a Germanic name meaning 'rich in fame'.
  9. Davis 1,074,448 people
    It's a name of Welsh origin, usually read as 'son of David'.
  10. Martinez 1,039,848 people
    The '-ez' ending marks a patronymic, so it means 'son of Martin'.
  11. Hernandez 1,013,895 people
    It means 'son of Hernando', the Spanish form of Ferdinand.
  12. Lopez 878,958 people
    It means 'son of Lope', a name from the Latin lupus, meaning wolf.
  13. Gonzalez 828,405 people
    It traces back to a Visigothic name combining the words for battle and elf.
  14. Wilson 777,275 people
    It's first recorded in England as 'Willeson' in 1324.
  15. Anderson 756,560 people
    In Scotland it's tied to St. Andrew; a Gaelic form means 'servant of St. Andrew'.
  16. Thomas 734,345 people
    It comes from a Biblical byname meaning 'twin', borne by the apostle Thomas.
  17. Taylor 723,758 people
    It comes from the Old French 'tailleur', meaning cutter.
  18. Moore 696,384 people
    Variants include More, Moor, Muir and the Irish O'More.
  19. Lee 695,657 people
    It can be English for 'meadow' or a spelling of the Chinese name Li or Korean Yi.
  20. Jackson 686,937 people
    It means 'son of Jack', and Jack began as a nickname for John.
  21. Perez 680,712 people
    It means 'son of Pedro', the Spanish form of Peter, which means 'rock'.
  22. Martin 678,691 people
    It comes from Martinus, a name derived from Mars, the Roman god of war.
  23. Thompson 640,099 people
    It is also used as the English form of the Scottish name MacTavish.
  24. White 636,798 people
    One Scottish source is MacGillebhain, 'son of the fair servant'.
  25. Sanchez 607,848 people
    Children of Spain's medieval kings named Sancho took the surname Sanchez.
  26. Harris 603,371 people
    It comes from Harry, an old English form of Henry, plus a possessive -s.
  27. Ramirez 544,204 people
    It means 'son of Ramiro', a name of Germanic origin.
  28. Clark 539,661 people
    It evolved from 'clerk', from the Latin clericus, for an educated scribe.
  29. Nguyen 531,404 people
    By some estimates, 30 to 39 percent of people in Vietnam share this surname.
  30. Lewis 515,459 people
    One root is the Germanic name Hlutwig, 'famed battle', which also gave us Louis.

Source: US Census Bureau: Frequently Occurring Last Names in the 2020 Census (Top 1,000) · as of 2020

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