# Where does your last name rank? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 27, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584 "2003-11-27T16:10:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/101 "2003-11-28T06:07:54Z")
My last name is 26027. I’m surprised it was that high. My first name in 60. Surprised again. ---
**Author:** ![WomanofScorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@WomanofScorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WomanofScorn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/102 "2003-11-28T06:15:56Z")
ok to make it easier to search for you to search for your name here is an easier site: [http://www.namestatistics.com](http://www.namestatistics.com) I got tired of scrolling on the other heh. btw, my maiden last name ranks 67, but my married last name ranks 1616. heh again. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/103 "2003-11-28T06:17:30Z")
My actual last name is not on there. My mother’s birth last name is, but my father’s is not … so how do you average X and infinity? My first name, of course, is common enough. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/104 "2003-11-28T06:19:38Z")
Oh. Silly me. I figured searching the page for my father’s original last name (twice) would be enough. Now I see both are there. Averaging the two gives me about … 2600. I am, however, not meek. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/105 "2003-11-28T06:32:57Z")
Forename: 35th Surname: 600-ish. Had no idea it was that common. Mothers maiden Name: Not on the list. Wow, had no idea it was so regionally-specific. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/106 "2003-11-28T06:56:53Z")
My first name is in the 770’s My middle name is in the 70’s My last name though, is 18th ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/107 "2003-11-28T07:17:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NothingMan \* > \*\*Honestly how long did it take you to figure that out? > I could look at that list for hours and probably pass over my name many times. All while getting a massive headache. \*\* Most browsers have a find-in-page feature. Use that. In Mozilla, you simply start typing letters and the browser will find matches on the fly. It’s very convenient. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/108 "2003-11-28T08:22:53Z")
My surname: #1135. There’s more of us here than I thought. My first name is in the 200s. Mother’s maiden name is in the 54100s My sister married into a name I’d never heard before and it’s not on the list. > [@](#): > > Last Name: 2332 Would you believe I have no idea how to pronounce that? ---
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_Holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a5b964/32.png) [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/109 "2003-11-28T08:33:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by whiterabbit \* > \*\*Oh, how I hate when people spell it “Snyder.” That’s a perfectly fine name. It’s just not mine. > > And in my case, it comes from Yiddish, not German. A lot of people make that (entirely understandable) mistake as well. _sigh_ \*\* I think the “Snyder” spelling actually comes from the Dutch “Snijder” (and is not necessarily an Anglicized spelling of “Schneider”), only the modern Dutch write the ij as a y with two dots on top (kind of an “umlaut” y), or just as ij. That is why the Dutch alphabet recognizes two y’s. The greek letter y (ypsilon) is spoken of as an “i-grec” and the ij combination is just a regular “eye”. In a lot of older Dutch writing the y is used for ij. In fact Afrikaans always uses the letter y for an ij combination, so the Dutch word for he (hij) is spelled “hy” in Afrikaans. So I guess Snyder was actually a pretty common spelling when the first Dutch came to the States. It is also interesting to note how many place and street names in NYC are actually Dutch. For example, Brooklyn is an anglicization of the name of the Dutch town “Breukelen”. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/110 "2003-11-28T08:41:20Z")
Well, that was a fun game. My last name gets to be in the very low 100s - I had expected it to be quite a bit lower. Heck, at that rate I do rather wonder how it would rank in Canada, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/111 "2003-11-28T08:57:12Z")
My last name is not on the list. No big surprise, as so far as I know everyone with that name in the US is at least as closely related to me as first cousin. (Did that make sense?) The surprise, as I searched the list, was finding a name that is almost the same as mine - different last letter only - appears on the list. I’ve never heard that name before and now I’m wondering if the two might be variations of the same name. First name barely misses the first 25. Interesting, as I’ve met some people who share the name, but not that many. Both my sons have first names in the top 20 in the US, but here in Norway one is moderately popular and the other is rare but not unheard of. Fella bilong missus flodnak’s first name is very Norwegian and does not appear on the list, of course! Their last name is in the 6700s. ---
**Author:** ![torie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@torie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/torie)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/112 "2003-11-28T10:36:20Z")
Last name 20th First name 116th. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/113 "2003-11-28T12:45:37Z")
36 48 104 ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/114 "2003-11-28T13:13:43Z")
Hey wow, Main is listed in the 2300s. Haven’t looked at my first name. ---
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/115 "2003-11-28T13:27:54Z")
First name: not on the list Last name: not on the list. My name is Els Verbanck Els is short for Elisabeth or Elizabeth, whichever you prefer, but Els _is_ my given name, the name on my birth certificate. I have no second name, nor a third, as is custom in Belgium (you the names of both your God parents, or they can choose one they like). My last name, Verbanck, is probably a bastardisation of 3 words: Van der banck. A “banck” being a sea bank. My father stems from a long line of fishermen, you see. So. Not on the list. I’m not surprised, people have difficulty with my name everywhere I go. Apart from Flanders, that is. ---
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/116 "2003-11-28T13:37:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by irishgirl \* > \*\*36 48 104 \*\* Those are some measurements… \ ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/117 "2003-11-28T13:40:20Z")
Last name: #15054 First name: not listed ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/118 "2003-11-28T14:01:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Spectre of Pithecanthropus \* > \*\*I too must question the validity of this list. My name is a variation of 76654, but I’m pretty sure that my spelling is at least as common as the one in the list, yet it doesn’t appear there at all. > \*\* My actual last name doesn’t appear on the list, but a variation (one that I’ve never actually met anyone with…only vaguely heard of) is up in the 86,000’s. And after my full last name came up with nothing, I searched for only the first five letters - and the only thing that came up was that one name. Ok. I knew we had an unusual last name, just not that unusual. ---
**Author:** ![meathead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@meathead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meathead)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/119 "2003-11-28T14:04:38Z")
First name - 20 Last name - 996 I’m actually surprised at the ranking of my last name. In the local phone book there is only three of us - me, my dad, and my uncle. ---
**Author:** ![KarmaComa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e36b37/32.png) [@KarmaComa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarmaComa)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584/120 "2003-11-28T14:09:03Z")
35-45-30… I’m a hideous whale! Actually I was in a long relationship with someone who had the same last name as me… it was so wrong… but so right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-your-last-name-rank/215584.md?page=7)