# What the most common "full name"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 28, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385 "2008-01-28T23:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bobjase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@bobjase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobjase)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/1 "2008-01-28T23:49:22Z")
I have found numerous sites online that tell me the most common first or last names in America by century/decade/gender/letter/etc… Unfortunately, I have not been able to turn up any sign up most common full name. It’s nice to know that “James” is the most common boys name and “Smith” is the most common last name, but as we all know, that doesn’t mean that “James Smith” is the most common full name. What’s the straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/2 "2008-01-28T23:53:45Z")
Not that I know what the answer would be, but… define “full name”. Is John A. Smith the same as John B. Smith? Is John A. Smith the same as John Smith (no middle initial)? Is John A. Smith the same as John A. Smith III? ---
**Author:** ![bobjase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/db5fbb/32.png) [@bobjase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobjase)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/3 "2008-01-28T23:58:06Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried] Not that I know what the answer would be, but… define “full name”. Is John A. Smith the same as John B. Smith? Is John A. Smith the same as John Smith (no middle initial)? Is John A. Smith the same as John A. Smith III? [/QUOTE] I was assuming that Franklin Delano Roosevelt is a different name from Franklin Roosevelt. That being said, I’ll take any information that I can get. If you only know info ignoring middle names or suffixes, etc… that would still be informative. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/4 "2008-01-29T01:15:41Z")
Something to consider: The world’s most common family name? Chang, by far. The world’s most common given name? Muhammad, by far. But is there ANYONE on Earth named Muhammad Chang? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/5 "2008-01-29T02:07:49Z")
I have known, or heard of, an amazing number of David Clarks. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/6 "2008-01-29T02:49:45Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] I have known, or heard of, an amazing number of David Clarks. [/QUOTE] Using a pair of these [David Clarks](http://www.davidclark.com/HeadsetPgs/hearprot.shtml), you wouldn’t have heard quite so much. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/7 "2008-01-29T03:08:06Z")
At my old company, there was a 3-person department. All 3 people in the department were named Raj Patel. 🙂 For what it’s worth, my money’s on some combo with Muhammed. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/8 "2008-01-29T03:47:52Z")
[QUOTE=bobjase] I have found numerous sites online that tell me the most common first or last names in America by century/decade/gender/letter/etc… Unfortunately, I have not been able to turn up any sign up most common full name. It’s nice to know that “James” is the most common boys name and “Smith” is the most common last name, but as we all know, that doesn’t mean that “James Smith” is the most common full name. What’s the straight dope? [/QUOTE] My WAG is that “James Smith” is probably correct. Using the [Social Security Death Index](http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/), you get 19,497 hits. Of course, this is just a listing of everyone in the US who is dead and had a Social Security number. But it’s a start. If you use “John Smith” you only get 17,000 or so hits. “William Smith” gets about 19,000 or so. I doubt that you could get a higher count using any other combination. This, of course, represents the total of all people who have died in the last 60+ years. Given the changing popularity of first names, the most popular name combo of people who are alive in the US currently is probably subject to being slightly different. No doubt, some day in the future, the SSDI will probably show some weird combination of first/last names, and will replace the former ones. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/9 "2008-01-29T04:04:31Z")
Indonesia is the 4th most populous country, and many have only one name, I don’t know what percentage. Whatever the most common name in that country might be the most common “full” name. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/10 "2008-01-29T04:09:17Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] But is there ANYONE on Earth named Muhammad Chang? [/QUOTE] Google it. Does [Taj Muhammad Chang](http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:agwhgXtFgWkJ:pakistantimes.net/2006/05/16/national1.htm+%22Muhammad+Chang%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8) count? Link to Google cache as page down. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/11 "2008-01-29T05:22:10Z")
Just among musicians I can think of 5 John or (Johnny) Williamses (one the father of the noted composer). ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/12 "2008-01-29T06:06:59Z")
[QUOTE=Princhester] Google it. Does [Taj Muhammad Chang](http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:agwhgXtFgWkJ:pakistantimes.net/2006/05/16/national1.htm+%22Muhammad+Chang%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8) count? Link to Google cache as page down. [/QUOTE] **Princhester** beat me to the punch! Same one I found after a quick google. And I don’t think it unlikely there are many more. There are, after all, a considerable number of Chinese Muslims. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/13 "2008-01-29T06:13:37Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] Something to consider: The world’s most common family name? Chang, by far. The world’s most common given name? Muhammad, by far. But is there ANYONE on Earth named Muhammad Chang? [/QUOTE] Heh. You know, I’d heard that the most common family name was “Wong”…but that the Chinese version of the name Mohammed was “Ma.” So there might be a number of "Ma Wong"s about. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-most-common-full-name/435385/14 "2008-01-29T15:17:20Z")
I have known or heard of about four people named John Hansen. Struck me as being disproportionately common.