Where does your name come from, and what does it mean? Genealogical website shows how many people you share your surname with across the world using an interactive map

  • Forebears uses genealogical data to show how common your surname is
  • The site can show where your family name originated from
  • The most common surname in the US, Britain and Australia is Smith
  • There are more than 76,000,000 people that bear the surname Wang

By Harry Pearl For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 22:44 EST, 1 March 2016 | Updated: 16:09 EST, 2 March 2016

What’s in a surname? Well, quite a lot it turns out.

If you’re curious about where your last name sprung from or how many other people share the name ‘Smith’, ‘Lee’ or ‘Nguyen’, there’s a website that can help with that.

Forebears collates genealogical data from multiple different sources and shows the distribution of surnames around the world.

There are more than 76,000,000 people that bear the surname Wang, which is the world's most common. As the map shows, they are overwhelmingly found in China

There are more than 76,000,000 people that bear the surname Wang, which is the world's most common. As the map shows, they are overwhelmingly found in China

The site allows users to search for their surname and see how many other people they share it with worldwide

The site allows users to search for their surname and see how many other people they share it with worldwide

It can show how common your surname is, how many people bear the same title and whether it originated from an occupation, a male ancestor or a topographical feature. 

The most common surname in the world is Wang and the website claims that there are 76,546,675 people - overwhelmingly in China - that bear the name worldwide.

Smith is the most common family name in Australia, the United States and England, the website claims.  

There are 4,299,506 Smiths worldwide, with the most in the United States - but it still only ranks as the 117th most common name in the world.

The surname originated from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘smitan’, to smite or strike, and means descendant of a metal worker, according to Forebears. 

In the United States, Johnson and Williams are the second and third most common surnames, respectively. Garcia is the most prevalent Hispanic name and the the 13th most common surname overall in the US.

THE WORLD'S MOST COMMON SURNAMES

1. Wang (China)

2. Devi (India)

3. Zhang (China)

4. Li (China)

5. Liu (China)

6. Singh (India)

7.Yang (China)

8. Kumar (India)

9. Wu (China)

10. Xu (China)

While in England, like Australia, Jones (a Patronymic surname meaning the son of John, or Johan or Jone) and Williams (which has medieval origins and is derived from the forename William) round out the top three.

Anglo-Saxon surnames are Australia’s most common, with only three non-European names making it into the top 50, according to the website which used data from 2014.

Lee, which has both European and Chinese origins, was the eighth most common family name in Australia.

Popular Vietnamese surname Nguyen, which is thought to have derived from Chinese, was ranked the 38th most common.

While Singh, the sixth most popular name in the world, ranked number 50 in Australia. Singh, which all male Sikhs bear, is derived from the Sanskrit word for Lion.  

According to the site administrators, the statistics are not intended as definitive figures but 'best approximations'.

The Australian data, for example, is drawn primarily from a consumer marketing database and covers about 52.8 percent of the population. The numbers are then multiplied to come up with the 'approximations'.

The website creates interactive maps with the data, which allows users to see how many other Smiths, Wangs or Whites there are across the world

The website creates interactive maps with the data, which allows users to see how many other Smiths, Wangs or Whites there are across the world

Forebears collates genealogical data to show how common surnames are. There are 184,513 Smiths in Australia and 4,299,506 in total worldwide

Common: Smith took the top spot in the United States also, with 2,552,459 surnames; Jones, Brown, Taylor and Anderson also appeared albeit in different orders

Common: Smith took the top spot in the United States also, with 2,552,459 surnames; Jones, Brown, Taylor and Anderson also appeared albeit in different orders

Developing theme: Smith again is the most common name in England, along with a few of the usual suspects

Developing theme: Smith again is the most common name in England, along with a few of the usual suspects

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