6 Most Common Surnames Around The World

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Some surnames are rare, and the others are so common that their population can be measured by millions. This is a list of some of the most common surnames in the world.

# Li or Lee

It is a widespread surname in China, with about 7.9 percent of the Chinese population possessing this family name. Li is the most common surname for the Hakka Chinese. A Korean surname that uses the same Chinese character, which is often romanized as Lee, is the second most common Korean surname, after Kim. Both the Korean family name Lee and the Vietnamese family name Lý was derived from the same Chinese character as the Chinese surname. Taken collectively, these surnames make Li the most common surname in the world.

# Zhang

Zhang is among the most common Chinese surnames. In the 1990 edition of Guinness Book of Records, it was listed as the world's most common surname, with over 100 million people worldwide with this surname. It was also ranked third in the People's Republic of China by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in early 2006. The use of this surname dates back to about 4,000 years ago.

# Wang

Wang is a Chinese family name and one of the most common surnames in the world. Wang is ranked as the most common surname in mainland China, with 92.88 million people bearing this surname. Translated into English, Wang literally means king or monarch. The Wang surname is also used in some non-Chinese speaking countries, including Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.

# Nguyễn

Nguyễn is the most common Vietnamese family name. By some estimates, approximately 40 percent of Vietnamese have this surname. The prevalence of Nguyễn as a family name in Vietnam extends to outside of the country where many Vietnamese have emigrated. Nguyễn is the 7th most common family name in Australia, and the 54th most common in France. In the United States, it is the 57th most common family name according to the 2000 Census, as well as the most common exclusively Asian surname.

# García

García is a surname common throughout the Americas, the Philippines and Spain. There are several theories about its origin and history, but it is probably of Basque origin. The meaning points to the descriptive adjective 'the young'. García is the most common surname in Spain (where 3.32% of population is named García) and also the second most common surname in Cuba. 4.1 million people in Mexico has the last name Garcia.

# González

González is a family name that originated in Spain. In Spain, it is the second most common surname (only after García) with 2.08% of the population bearing the surname. It's also very popular in Latin America, being the most common one in countries like Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Paraguay, and thus making it the most popular surname in the Spanish speaking world. Within the United States, it is ranked as the 23rd most common surname.