Fewer Clarks and more Garcías: Hispanic surnames take over the Census

The increasing weight of Hispanics in the Census is noticeable in the frequency with which their surnames are repeated among the population. According to the census, Garcia, Rodriguez and Martinez are already among the 10 most repeated, and Hernandez, Lopez or Gonzalez, among the 15 most common in the country.

A report by the Census Bureau notes that "the most notable change that has occurred over time in the 15 most common surnames is the incorporation of predominantly Hispanic surnames. Since 2000, six Hispanic surnames have joined the top 15 most common surnames. They are Garcia, Gonzalez, Hernandez, Lopez, Martinez and Rodriguez."

In the top 15 and growing since 2000

Of particular note is Garcia, a typically Hispanic surname and one in which 91% of those who bear it self-define themselves as Latino in Census surveys. It was also one of the first names of this ancestry to break into the top 10 most used surnames in the country.

This is a phenomenon that began to make itself felt in the year 2000, when the aforementioned García appeared as the eighth most common surname in the country. Next to him, Rodriguez (9th), Martinez (11th) and Hernandez (15th) began to appear.

In 2010 López and González were added to the top 15, while García climbed to the sixth position, where he remains a decade later. In 2020, Rodriguez managed to unseat Davis as the eighth most repeated surname.

Hispanics, the highest percentage of those sharing the top 10 most common surnames

In addition, according to the Census analysis, "the Hispanic or Latino population has the highest percentage (14.2%) of people sharing the 10 most common surnames in the group. In other words, a smaller number of surnames encompasses a larger share of the Hispanic or Latino population compared with other groups."

However, the origin of the number of surnames that has experienced the most rapid growth in the last 10 years is Asian. In fact, with the exception of Patel, the rest of the 15 that have experienced the biggest boom in the last decade correspond to this continent. Zhang, with a growth of almost 75%, Liu (62.4%), Wang (54.7%), Ahmed (54.1%) or Kaur (53.9%), occupy the top positions among the 1,000 that have increased their frequency the most.