American Surnames Ranking and Their Surnames Sources

According to A Glance at America, American names are simple. Although it claims to be more than 3,500, only 500 girls and 800 boys are commonly used. Except for John, Peter, Yue Se and Mary, most of these names are copied from the Bible. American parents don't rack their brains to make a fuss about naming their children like their parents in China, as long as they choose a satisfactory one according to the Bible.

In contrast, American surnames are extremely complicated. The United States is a "national platter." All the races in the world live in mixed places, bringing their own cultures, languages and lineages, as well as their own surnames. The variety of surnames in the United States is bound to rank first in the world. Anyway, the strange surnames of immigrants of Anglo-Saxon descent from five continents are an eye-opener.

For example, some people's surnames are apples, others are oranges, rice, wheat and corn.

Some people's surnames are bacon, ham, cough, wolf, fox, ash, poison, rooster, duck and fish, which is ridiculous. Some people are called birds. Although there are many people in China whose surnames are Niu and Ma, calling them "Mr. Bird" and "Mrs. Bird" sounds funny to people in China.

Someone's surname is Armstrong. Ancestors must be big shots and strong enough. Some people are cowards, some people are crazy, coffins, brooms, and even broomsticks. There are people whose surnames are death and hell, which is a bit unlucky. Grave and the dead are unlucky words, and they dare to use their surnames in America. The rest can be imagined.

Some people are obviously white, but their surnames are black, and shiny black is white. Many "Snow White" with blue eyes and blonde hair are called "blakeman", "bookworm" and "bald" by others. Some professors are rich and learned, and their names are actually farmers, while farmers who don't know a word are publicly named Wiseman.

Richman's surname is not necessarily rich. Some people's surnames are Bank, Bankmann, Goldman Sachs, Gold, Jewelry, Ring, Silver, Stock and Cash, but they are still poor. A free man may go to prison illegally, but a sinner may be virtuous and always obey the law.

Of course, it is everyone's wish to be a saint and honor their ancestors, which is true of both eastern and western cultures. So, in America, the surnames of Christ, Bible, Pope, King, Queen, Prince, Duke, Lord …… ...

Some people joke that American culture is too shallow and Hu's surname is full of anger. Americans even dare to take "sex" or even "rapist" as their surname and pass it on from generation to generation. The ancestors of these families must be illiterate, otherwise how could they make such a joke?

According to American scholar Elsden Smith's investigation on the origin and development of American surnames in his monograph American Surnames, there are roughly four sources of British and American surnames:

1, taken from the father's (or ancestor's) name, and the surname evolved from the father's (or ancestor's) name, such as John's son Johnson and Richard's son Richardson.

2. Surnames come from topography and topography. Like wood and Churchill. This kind of surname is the most, accounting for about 40% of the total number of British and American surnames.

3. From the nickname. Some ancestors had certain physiological characteristics and gave their families a surname. Such as brown, black, long and so on.

It was formed by the occupation of ancestors. Such as Smith (blacksmith), baker (baker), fisherman (fisherman), farmer (farmer), Taylor (tailor) and so on.

Of course, the above four categories all refer to the surnames of Anglo-Saxon Americans, excluding the surnames of immigrants from Germany, France, Italy, western Russia, Japan and Arabia. If all of them are added together, according to Smith's estimation, there are about 6,543.8+0.5 million different surnames in the United States. According to Mr Heck (J N Hook), in the United States, there are more than 3,000 popular surnames with more than 1 10,000 people. The top ten surnames in the United States are Smith, Johnson, William, Brown, Jones, Miller, Davis, Marthinsen, Anderson and Wilson. Smith ranks first, with more than 2 million people in the United States.