Why Do So Many People Have the Same Last Name?

Why are there so many of the same surnames? Why do some surnames go extinct? Why do we call surnames "last names?" Mr. Beat, who has a strange last name, answers these questions in this video. Oh, and Jabril helps out.
Check out his video here:

Music by Drew Gerber. Produced by Matt Beat. All images found in the public domain, used under fair use guidelines, or original content from Matt Beat.

Fair use photo credits:
Michael Rivera
Gage Skidmore
Tanner Morrow

How rare is your surname? Find out here:

Check out the book: What's in a Surname?: A Journey from Abercrombie to Zwicker

Sources:

I’m Mr. Beat. Some people don’t believe me when I tell them that’s really my last name. Apparently it’s really rare. Only 422 other people living in the United States share my last name. Only 3,661 other people living in the entire world share my last name.

According to the website Forebears, not four bears, Forebears, Beat is the 111,426th most popular surname in the world. It’s most popular in Cameroon, believe it or not. By the way, surname, aka “family name” is a much more accurate way to describe it. A surname is basically the name passed down from generation to generation. It’s inaccurate to call it a “last name” everywhere because in many countries the surname is said first.

So why is my surname so rare? Hold up, the better question is why so many many people have the SAME last name. There are so many names to choose from, yet we have so many Johnsons. (I’m telling you, he should just change his surname to The Rock). Let’s look at Smith, the most popular last name in the United States. Here’s my friend Kevin Smith. No, not THAT Kevin Smith. No, not THAT Kevin Smith. No no no. Not that one! Yes, that Kevin Smith. Geez. So yeah, my friend’s name is so common that are 23 Kevin Smiths currently classified as “notable people” on Wikipedia. Odds are, there’s a Kevin Smith in the town you currently live in. Why is my friend’s name so common? First of all, Kevin was the 24th most popular boys name the year he was born, so that increased the number out there. But this video is about surnames. Smith is so common because many surnames came from what people did for a living. Smith is an occupational name, named after working with metal, and because metal work jobs historically have existed a lot of places and because the occupation has historically been so important, the name spread.

Ok, so that explains Smith, but what about Li or Gonzalez or Zhang or Nguyen or Hernandez? Huh Mr. Smarty Pants? Oops, wrong surname. I mean, huh Mr. Beat?

Well let’s take Nguyen. Between 30 to 40 percent of the entire country of Vietnam have the last name Nguyen. To put that in perspective, less than 1 percent of Americans have the last name Smith. Why Nguyen?

Well, for generations, Vietnam was just minding its own business, when China decides to be all imperialistic on them and take over. At the time of the beginning of Chinese imperialism, the Vietnamese did not have surnames. China literally gave them surnames so that it would be easier to keep track of them. They gave many of them Nguyen, a Chinese name. You saw this with other imperialist powers around the world. That’s why most Filipinos have Spanish names, for example. This can even be extended to slavery. Many African Americans have surnames from the owners of their slave ancestors. Well that’s pretty messed up. Geez.

In some cases, people changed their surnames so they wouldn’t get killed. In other cases, people changed their surname, because they weren’t particularly attached to the old one so they took the one of someone they admired. This also explains why there are so many Nguyens. Still, I feel like there is some important information missing here.

[iammrbeat]

How rare is YOUR last name? Post your rankings here.

[tehace]

Being a James Smith myself, that part was creepy!

[MisterMalleable]

My surname “Loeffler” is German for “one who makes spoons”

[Mythical]

Don’t forget Squidward is a very common name in Bikini Bottom.

[LordHRthend]

My surname is “Hatter” and there are not many of us in the world. We’re all mad.

[kellyfly]

My first, middle, and last names were so common that when I was in 2nd grade the teacher assigned each of us a number to use. It was the easiest way she could distinguish whose paper was whose.

[fermainjackson]

Most common family names or surnames in Spanish end with: "EZ" like Hernandez, Gonzalez, Fernandez.... Etc

[paperheartzz]

Did anyone here send this video to a James Smith, just to make it true?

[ap]

My grandfather, Alfred Smith, used to claim that in the beginning, everyone's last name was Smith. As they sinned, they had to change their last name. 😅

[lindsaymanning]

Great video Mr. Beat! My school has a teacher with the last name Manning and I sometimes get asked if we're related. She told me the reason why her last name is Manning is that her husband had a very German-sounding surname and could not find work. So he changed it to the English-sounding Manning and eventually found a job. Manning is definitely not an obscure name, I actually have a cousin named Peyton Manning who is a girl. However, I am probably not closely related to the famous football player.

[brandonmartinez]

My last name, Martinez, is surprisingly not so common here on Oklahoma, but there's a lot of Ramirez. This type of video is interesting and should've been longer

[grzegorzcichosz]

it’s quite funny that the most popular surname in poland is Kowalski that has like exactly the same etymology xddd
Kowal = smith

[excelisfun]

Thanks for the cool video, Most Rare Beat!!!!

[djtrankilo]

You should've went into more detail with Latino surnames like Gonzalez, Hernandez and others. My mother's maiden name is Perez. That's why I'm curious.

[Theoxuesu]

At long last, I have found my people.

[sorryforbatenglish]

Excellent video, as always much appreciated, please keep em coming :)

[Kopzzzz]

Hey Mr. Beat, long time subscriber, you are creating real quality content, you deserve more subs!! I hope your channel will grow :)

[DarkDragon]

super late to the party.
an additional information about the "Nguyen" for us Vietnamese that I have learned so far: there are probably about 3 more reasons aside from what you shared:
1. back in the 13th century, there was a ruling dynasty changed (Ly to Tran), then the king forced anyone bearing Ly surname to changed to Nguyen to make people less likely to remember the old regime
2. as you have already said, criminals or someone on the run usually changed their surname to that common one to have a new identity
3. in the 17th century, there were the Nguyen lords (predecessor of the Nguyen dynasty later on) who ruled southern Vietnam, which was mosly jungle of the time. The lords usually gift the royal surname to those who have made land clearance of other significant developments for his land

[godgodson]

I've been harassed by police for having the same first and last name as several people with warrants.

[cpt.flippybirds]

My sergeant had a lisp and would say, " DITHSMITHED!"🐦