Family names like Smith, Johnson, Williams, and Brown have been among the most popular in the United States for decades. While such names will not likely disappear anytime soon, changing birthrates and immigration patterns have made some less familiar names far more common than they once were.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from technology company Ancestry to identify the fastest growing last names in the United States. The names come from a range of backgrounds, spanning Europe and Asia. Every name on this list, even though many only encompass fewer than 100,000 individuals, has became at least 50% more common between 2000 and 2010.
Unlike first names, family names do not reflect popular naming trends. Rather, increased prevalence of certain surnames often reflects broad demographic changes.
Click here to see the fastest growing last names.
Click here to see the detailed findings and methodology.
22. Zavala
> 10-yr growth: 50.1%
> Population with last name in 2000: 34,068
> Population with last name in 2010: 51,153
> Heritage: Basque
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21. Guevara
> 10-yr growth: 50.6%
> Population with last name in 2000: 30,844
> Population with last name in 2010: 46,454
> Heritage: Basque
20. Benitez
> 10-yr growth: 53.4%
> Population with last name in 2000: 33,441
> Population with last name in 2010: 51,288
> Heritage: Spanish
19. Cortes
> 10-yr growth: 53.4%
> Population with last name in 2000: 30,141
> Population with last name in 2010: 46,229
> Heritage: Catalan, Portuguese, Spanish
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18. Shah
> 10-yr growth: 54.1%
> Population with last name in 2000: 37,833
> Population with last name in 2010: 58,287
> Heritage: Muslim, Indian
17. Pineda
> 10-yr growth: 56.0%
> Population with last name in 2000: 38,999
> Population with last name in 2010: 60,820
> Heritage: Catalan, Spanish
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16. Mejia
> 10-yr growth: 56.4%
> Population with last name in 2000: 66,534
> Population with last name in 2010: 104,057
> Heritage: Spanish
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15. Wu
> 10-yr growth: 56.5%
> Population with last name in 2000: 45,815
> Population with last name in 2010: 71,721
> Heritage: Chinese
14. Patel
> 10-yr growth: 58.5%
> Population with last name in 2000: 145,066
> Population with last name in 2010: 229,973
> Heritage: Indian
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13. Velazquez
> 10-yr growth: 59.2%
> Population with last name in 2000: 40,030
> Population with last name in 2010: 63,736
> Heritage: Spanish
12. Bautista
> 10-yr growth: 59.2%
> Population with last name in 2000: 37,847
> Population with last name in 2010: 60,264
> Heritage: Spanish
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11. Chen
> 10-yr growth: 60.7%
> Population with last name in 2000: 105,544
> Population with last name in 2010: 169,580
> Heritage: Chinese
10. Singh
> 10-yr growth: 60.7%
> Population with last name in 2000: 72,642
> Population with last name in 2010: 116,749
> Heritage: Indian
9. Lin
> 10-yr growth: 61.1%
> Population with last name in 2000: 49,360
> Population with last name in 2010: 79,508
> Heritage: Chinese
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8. Huang
> 10-yr growth: 61.8%
> Population with last name in 2000: 44,715
> Population with last name in 2010: 72,328
> Heritage: Chinese
7. Wang
> 10-yr growth: 62.6%
> Population with last name in 2000: 67,570
> Population with last name in 2010: 109,883
> Heritage: Chinese, German and Dutch, Jewish, Korean, Scandinavian
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6. Vazquez
> 10-yr growth: 62.9%
> Population with last name in 2000: 84,926
> Population with last name in 2010: 138,322
> Heritage: Spanish, Galician
5. Khan
> 10-yr growth: 63.1%
> Population with last name in 2000: 46,713
> Population with last name in 2010: 76,171
> Heritage: Muslim
4. Liu
> 10-yr growth: 64.4%
> Population with last name in 2000: 47,665
> Population with last name in 2010: 78,370
> Heritage: Chinese
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3. Ali
> 10-yr growth: 66.3%
> Population with last name in 2000: 36,079
> Population with last name in 2010: 60,002
> Heritage: Muslim
2. Li
> 10-yr growth: 93.4%
> Population with last name in 2000: 57,786
> Population with last name in 2010: 111,786
> Heritage: Chinese, Norwegian
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1. Zhang
> 10-yr growth: 111.2%
> Population with last name in 2000: 33,202
> Population with last name in 2010: 70,125
> Heritage: Chinese
Detailed Findings & Methodology
According to research by think tank Pew Research Center, the United States is more racially and ethnically diverse than ever before — a trend that will only continue in the coming years. The fastest growing last names underscore this trend.
Currently, some 61.3% of the U.S. population are single race, non-hispanic white. However, by some projections, the United States will not have a single ethnic or racial majority as soon as 2055. Immigration is a major driving force behind this trend. An estimated 59 million people have immigrated to the United States in the past half century — primarily from Latin America and Asia.
Immigration is only one side of the equation. Birth rates also affect the increased prevalence of certain family names in the United States. Hispanics and other minorities, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as anyone who is not a single race non-Hispanic white, accounted for the majority of births for the first time in 2011.
These immigration and birth rate trends help explain the fastest growing names in the United States. Of the 22 fastest growing names, 15 are from either of Spanish or Chinese origin. The name Zhang, for example, is the only one on this list to more than double in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010 as the number of Americans with the last name grew from 33,202 to 70,125 over that time.
Another major demographic shift changing the composition of Americans’ surnames is related to religion. According to Pew, the share of Americans who identify as Christians is declining, while those who identify with other non-Christian religious groups is on the rise. In keeping with this trend, three surnames on this list are of Muslim heritage.
To identify the fastest growing last names in America, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed last names of the U.S. population recorded on ancestry.com from 2000 and 2010. The heritage of each last name — expressed as either a religious group, a language, a country of origin, or ethnic group — came from ancestry.com when available and other sources. Images are representative of where the surname originated or where it is common today based on the heritage data.
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