# Why is the name Smith common?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-name-smith-common/89670>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 26, 2001, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-name-smith-common/89670 "2001-10-26T00:01:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Major\_Feelgud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@Major\_Feelgud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Feelgud)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-name-smith-common/89670/1 "2001-10-26T00:01:29Z")

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I’ve read that when people started acquiring last times hundreds of years ago, they sometimes used their profession. e.g. Wright, Farmer, Cartwright. I’d imagine that smiths (ironsmiths, blacksmiths) weren’t that common, maybe 1-2 smiths per village. So were the Smiths great lovers? And shouldn’t there be a lot of people named Peasant?

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2001, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-name-smith-common/89670/2 "2001-10-26T00:10:13Z")

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Damn, it’s like we were [just talking about this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=94140), part 2.