GenealogyRoadTrip

Most Common Names In The 1990 Census

The Census Bureau ranked names from the 1990 Census, and we have arranged them in alphabetical order for easy reference. This also makes it easier to compare similar names and see how they rank.

The Census Bureau has a complete page on the limitations and methodology used to compile the frequently occurring names list. The names were based on a sample of 6,290,251 census records.
Click here to read it. (Will open in a new window)
Click here to view the data in its original form. (Will open in a new window)

Just a note, for the female names, the top 20% contains 27 or 28 names. The bottom 20% contains about 3,464 names.
For the surnames, the top 20% contains about 115 names, the bottom 20% contains about 64,000 names.
Since the names were taken from a sample, as you move further down the rank the total percentage may not be totally accurate. Also the difference in the actual number of people with a name at the bottom of the list may not vary much, even though the ranking is very different.

Indexes are listed below:

Male First Names:   A-Z  1,219 Different Names

Female First Names:   A-G   H-M   N-Z     4,275 Different Names

Surnames (Last Names)   88,799 Different Names

A Surnames: Aa-Am   An-Az   3,297 Different Names

B Surnames:  Ba   Be   Bh-Bl   Bo   Br   Bu-Bz   8,129 Different Names

C Surnames:   Ca   Cd-Ci   Cl-Co   Cr-Cz   6,039 Different Names

D Surnames:   Da   De   Dh-Do   Dr-Dz   4,907 Different Names

E Surnames:   E   1,846 Different Names

F Surnames:   Fa-Fj    Fl-Fy   3,222 Different Names

G Surnames:   Ga-Ge   Gf-Go   Gr-Gz   4,677 Different Names

H Surnames:   Ha   He-Hn   Ho-Hy   5,189 Different Names

I Surnames:  I   604 Different Names

J Surnames:   J   1,145 Different Names

K Surnames:   Ka-Ke   Kh-Kn   Ko-Ky   4,549 Different Names

L Surnames:   La   Le-Li   Lj-Ly   4,763 Different Names

M Surnames:   Ma-Maq   Mar-Maz  Mb-Mc   Me-Mi   Ml-My   7,636 Different Names

N Surnames:   N    1,829 Different Names

O Surnames:   O    1,449 Different Names

P Surnames:   Pa   Pe-Pi   Pj-Py   4,642 Different Names

Q Surnames:   Q   242 Different Names

R Surnames:   Ra   Re-Ri   Rm-Rz   4,231 Different Names

S Surnames:   Sa    Sb-Sc   Sd-Sh   Si-Sn   So-Sr   St   Su-Sz   9,723 Different Names

T Surnames:  Ta-Ti   Tj-Tz    3,450 Different Names

U Surnames:   U   396 Different Names

V Surnames:   V   2,085 Different Names

W Surnames:  Wa-Wh    Wi-Wz   3,208 Different Names

X Surnames:   X   16 Different Names

Y Surnames:   Y   556 Different Names

Z Surnames:   Z   953 Different Names