# Rarest last name in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647 "2013-04-14T00:46:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/61 "2013-04-17T16:21:14Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > If personal attestation is real data, then [I have it](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=8954818&postcount=26). If that’s not good enough for you, then hie thee to Meghalaya, the region of India where the student in my story was probably from. Naming your child after historical figures is extremely popular there; there are even Hitlers, Stalins, and Napoleons in the state legislature. Some of these people evidently end up immigrating to North America. [Apparently](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/indias-hitler-stores-spark-outrage/2012/09/06/66f81394-f827-11e1-8253-3f495ae70650_blog.html) the ignorance of context with respect to those names is fairly common in India. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/62 "2013-04-17T16:45:50Z")
> [@drew870mitchell](#): > > [How many of me](http://howmanyofme.com/) That site is pure, juvenile fun: There are 2,354 people in the U.S. with the last name “Boner”. There are 306 people in the U.S. with the last name “Cock”. There are 169 people in the U.S. named “Mike Hunt”. There are 22 people in the U.S. named “Harry Weiner”. There is 1 person in the U.S. named “Harry Balls”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/63 "2013-04-17T16:55:09Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > That site is pure, juvenile fun: > > There are 2,354 people in the U.S. with the last name “Boner”. > 😃 For true giggles, one of those [Boners](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Boner) used to be Mayor of Nashville. There are those who feel he was aptly named. ---
**Author:** ![Capt\_Kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@Capt\_Kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt_Kirk)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/64 "2013-04-17T16:56:33Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/65 "2013-04-17T17:15:16Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > There is 1 person in the U.S. named “Harry Balls”. > > 😃 Harry Baals was the mayor of my hometown in the 1930-1940s. 🙂 There’s a street named after him but people kept stealing the sign so it got changed to HW Baals Drive. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/66 "2013-04-17T17:19:09Z")
It appears that Hitler is a more popular first name than last. Fewer than 117 for last name (surprise), but fewer than 1578 for first name. Mother: Honey, we must have a unique name for our love child and I’m betting there will not be any other Hitlers in his school. Dad: And the kids will fear him as well. Hitler Wittgenstein it is. ---
**Author:** ![luaphacim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@luaphacim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luaphacim)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/67 "2014-01-21T14:51:56Z")
According to [this page on PBS.org](http://www.pbs.org/pov/thesweetestsound/popindex.php): “The 2000 census found over 6 million surnames total, the vast majority (about 65%) held by just one person.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/68 "2014-01-21T15:00:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > No, mine is a misspelling of a Swiss name. I’ve since found out that rather than a misspelling it’s actually an older spelling of the name. That spelling has died out in Switzerland but survives in three families in the US, including mine. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/69 "2014-01-21T15:05:33Z")
> [@luaphacim](#): > > According to [this page on PBS.org](http://www.pbs.org/pov/thesweetestsound/popindex.php): “The 2000 census found over 6 million surnames total, the vast majority (about 65%) held by just one person.” That’s got to be some kind of glitch. There can’t be 3+ million people in the US with unique surnames. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/70 "2014-01-21T15:10:07Z")
Years ago I heard of a man named [Xerxes Zzyzzx (with a son named Hero):](http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/48818110/) > [@](#): > > In Ihe life of Hero Zzyzzx, 31, the telephone Is both travail and blessing. Zzyzzx says he gets too many calls at all hours, from drunks, kids. Insomniacs and jokers. But once In a while he gets one from “an Interested young lady.” And that’s why he doesn’t move to an unlisted number. Zzyzzx (pronounced 'ziz Icks) owns the last name in the Madison telephone book. There are people who amuse themselves by reading telephone books and Hero Zzyzzx is a name hard to ignore. It’s his real name, he said, an amalgam of Finnish, Lithuanian, Russian, French, German and central European family backgrounds. His father, Xerxes Zzyzzx, was a sailor who named his son after the man pictured on Players cigarette packs, a man named Hero. "Kids will call and make fun of my name. People will call at all hours of the day and night. You know, Insomniacs who have nothing better to do at 3 a.m. “Lots of them arc obscene and we get a lot of drunks.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/71 "2014-01-21T15:14:39Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s got to be some kind of glitch. There can’t be 3+ million people in the US with unique surnames. Yeah, that’s one in 100 people with a unique last name. Most people are going to have at least a few family members that they share a name with. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/72 "2014-01-21T15:19:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yeah, that’s one in 100 people with a unique last name. Most people are going to have at least a few family members that they share a name with. My vote would go to indifferent census-takers and other folks trying to hide. ---
**Author:** ![bubba001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f17d59/32.png) [@bubba001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubba001)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/73 "2014-01-21T15:54:19Z")
I tried that site, and got told that I was the only one with my name in the US. That is not correct, as I have 2 other living relatives with the same name. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/74 "2014-01-21T16:00:30Z")
No, no, no, that’s not 4 million people with unique names. It says right there-- “the vast majority (about 65%) held by just one person”. So there’s one guy out there somewhere with 4 million last names. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/75 "2014-01-21T17:05:22Z")
Here’s a candidate: [Janice “Lokelani” Keihanaikukauakahihulihe’ekahaunaele](http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/31/258673819/hawaiian-woman-gets-ids-that-fit-her-36-character-last-name) BTW, I checked several news reports of this story and most did not actually include the okina (represented by the apostrophe) in her name that they mention in the story. Also I note her old drivers license did not have the okina either. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/76 "2014-01-21T18:06:16Z")
Presumably the guy who legally changed his name to “Trout Fishing In America” doesn’t have a lot of people with the same last name (whatever part of that is the last.) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/77 "2014-01-21T19:12:46Z")
> [@johnspartan](#): > > Presumably the guy who legally changed his name to “Trout Fishing In America” doesn’t have a lot of people with the same last name (whatever part of that is the last.) If it’s just “America”, I doubt that’s unique, but “Fishing in America” would be. But if we’re going to allow people who change their name to whatever, then consider Metta World Peace (who Charles Barkley still calls Ron) or various names from [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=519914). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/78 "2014-01-21T22:17:13Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I’ve since found out that rather than a misspelling it’s actually an older spelling of the name. That spelling has died out in Switzerland but survives in three families in the US, including mine. Congratulations! You’re now officially an artifact! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/79 "2014-01-21T23:41:36Z")
My second middle name is quite unusual, and was my paternal grandmother’s maiden name. Each of her three children were given it as a middle name, and I believe all of their children (that is five people, including my sister and myself) were given it too. My two children and my sister’s child also have it as a middle name, but I have not had any contact with my cousins on that side of the family since we were children, so I do not know whether they have children who have the name too, but I would not be surprised if at least some of them do. The name is similar to a rather rare, but not vanishingly rare, Cornish name, and family folklore (or speculation) has it that it probably originated as a misspelling of the Cornish name amongst a branch of that family who migrated from Cornwall to Wales (my father and his parents were Welsh). Anyway, until earlier this month I had never come across or heard of _anyone_ who was not a descendant of my grandmother who had this name, and _no-one_ except my grandmother herself who had it as a last name. (Many Welsh last names, such as Jones, Evans, Thomas, Morgan, Price, etc., are very common, even amongst people who are far removed from any Welsh origins, but this one is a definite exception.) However, while web surfing a couple of weeks ago I came across an article about a woman who is a professor at Stanford University who has it a a last name. Although her ethnic roots were not directly discussed in the article, there was enough to strongly suggest that she has Welsh roots of which she is very conscious and proud. Given how rare the name seems to be in Britain, and even in Wales, it is probably very rare in the United States. She may be the only one (apart from my daughters, who have it as a middle name). ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ My Jewish uncle (the husband of my mother’s sister) also has a very unusual last name, seemingly a modified form of a Russian name. According to his family tradition, one of his ancestors in the 19th century was driver of the Tsar’s train, and, perhaps for that reason the family took an ethnically Russian rather than a typically Jewish name. (Would they really have given such a job to a Jew? Thinking about it now, it seems a bit unlikely, but I don’t know.) Anyway, at some point the family migrated from Russia to Belgium (where I think he still has relatives that he is in touch with), and then his branch (probably either his grandfather or father, I am not sure) migrated to England. Anyway, he tells me in his whole life (he is now 93) he has never come across more than about two people, apart from fairly close relatives, who share the name. He has a son, but the son has no children and is now too old to be likely to have any, so the name will die out in his branch of his family. A few years ago I came across a book by an American author with a name similar to that of my uncle and cousin, but spelled slightly differently. I showed the book to my uncle, and he began to speculate whether the author might be a relative of his, coming to the conclusion that the author (who was quite elderly by the time I discovered him) was probably the son of a relative (I am not quite sure what the relationship was, but probably someone of his father’s generation) whom he recalled as having emigrated to the United States (I presume from Belgium). Again, given how rare the name seems to be in Britain (and probably Belgium too), it is probably very rare in the USA, especially as it has undergone a change in spelling there. But no, I am not going to tell you what the names are. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647/80 "2014-01-21T23:45:11Z")
My uncle came over from Sweden some time before the Second World War. I’m not sure if what happened was a misspelling or what, but all 13 people in Canada with that name are related to him. He had a brother, though, in the States, so presumable there are more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rarest-last-name-in-america/655647.md?page=5)