This is due to the fact that the Jews traditionally live in the territories of various states, and therefore the Jewish surnames were under the influence of local national cultures and languages. So, their features have the names that originated in the environment of various ethnic groups of Jews: Israeli Jews, Russian-speaking Jews, Ashkenazi (speaking Yewish Jews, mainly from Germany and America), Sefardov (living in the Arab East and in Spain), Bukhara Jews from average Asia and mountain Jews from the Caucasus.

The first Jewish surnames are hereditary naming, pointing to belonging to the clan fixed in the XVII century. However, the bulk of the Jews received the names only in the XVIII-XIX centuries, in particular in connection with the publication of decrees on the obligatory assignment of the surnames.

Historically, the first type of Jewish surnames were the names formed on behalf of the Father. As a rule, such names were based on the original Jewish male names: for example, Abraham, Solomon, Israel. However, the Jews more often than other peoples, there are also surnames leading from the feminine name: for example, Rivkin, Doerin, Lein.

Another specific type of Jewish surnames of the name-abbreviations: for example, the name Katz, which is a reduction in the phrase of COHEN TSADEK - translated from Hebrew Righteous Cohen (clergyman).

Like all nations, the Jews have imaging of centuries, in addition to names, nicknames were used. The latter allowed to allocate people of a particular person from the community, pointing to any given distinctive feature. Over time, the nicknames were fixed as the most common naming of a person and often laid the surnames.

The surnames of artificial origin of the surname, intentionally created by the Jews or officials who were intended to provide Jews with the names of the surnames by the surnames themselves in the Jewish Sneastikone. Such a practice of assigning the surnames to Jews was once in the Austrian and Russian Empires, as well as in Prussia. The basis of such surnames lay arbitrarily selected words.

So, for the names of the Jews, living in the territories of the settlement of Slavs, characterized by Slavic suffixes in, -OV / Ev, -Ovich / --Evich, -Enko, -ska, - Church. Ashkenaz surnames are issued by formants Son / - Zon (literallying son), -man (man, man, husband), -Kind (child), -Bain (bone), -Shts (barrel), -Er, -s. For the surnames Sephardov typical of such components, as -set, -Pur with the value of the Son, the prefix of the patronymic of ibn-, suffixes of accessories and, -Ian, toponymic suffix. The Minsk Jews of the Caucasus in the formation of the names borrowed the Georgian family suffix Schvili (translated as a child). The Jews of Israel often have surnames decorated with Jewish suffixes of IP / Gene,-and, and Ben- (translated from Hebrew Son) and articles of accessories to the gen.

1. Li - more than 100 million people worldwide

This is the most common surname in the world, the happy owners of which are about 7.9 percent of China's inhabitants. There are different varieties of this surname - Li, Lee and even Ly, everything depends on the human residence region.

In the photo Bruce Lee, the legendary film actor, master of oriental martial arts.



2. Zhang - more than 100 million people

Zhang is another of the most common Chinese surnames. In 1990, she was recognized as the most common in the world and fell into the Book of Records Guinis. This surname in China has been used for many thousands of years. In the photo Zhang Inin plays a table tennis.

3. Van (Wang) - more than 93 million people

China's population exceeds 1 billion people, it is not surprising that it is the Chinese names that are the most common in the world. Wang is one of the most used China's names with 93 million people. Translated, it literally means "Monarch", "King". This surname is also often used in Korea, Vietnam and even in Japan. In the photo Van Chen Ming, Baseball player.

4. Nguyen (Nguyen) - more than 36 million people

Nguyen is the most common Vietnamese surname. About 40% of Vietnam residents are its carriers. This surname is also common outside Vietnam in countries where Vietnamese emigrate. For example, this surname on the 54th place in France. In the US, it is located in the 57th place. In the photo of Kuinh Nguyen, pianist.

5. Garcia - more than 10 million people

Surname Garcia is common worldwide - in North and South America, Philippines, Spain. The surname is likely to be a Basque origin, in translation meaning "young", "Jr.". About 3.3% of the Spaniards are Garci, this is the second in the prevalence of the surname in Cuba, and in Mexico Garci are 4.1 million people. In the photo Pablo Markano Garcia, artist from Puerto Rico.

6. Gonzalez - more than 10 million people

Gonzalez surname of Spanish origin. This is the second after Garcia last name in Spain. It is also popular in Latin America - in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Paraguay. In the photo of Sheila Gonzalez, saxophonist from the USA.

7. Hernandez - more than 8 million people

The surname Hernandez has both Spanish and Portuguese roots. It is used in Mexico, USA, Chile, Spain, Cuba and a number of other countries. Translated, it means "Son Ernan". In the photo Peter Hernandez, singer.

8. Smith - more than 4 million people

Smith is the English surname, the most common in the UK, Australia and the United States, Canada and Ireland. The origin of the surname is connected with blacksmithing craft, Smiths in Starin called the Kuznetsov. At the photo, Adrian Smith, an American architect, who designed many skyscrapers, including the famous Burge Califa and Trump Tower.

9. Smirnov - more than 2.5 million people

Contrary to universal delusion, the most common Russian surname is not Ivanov, and certainly not Kuznetsov. More than 2.5 million people worldwide worn by the name of Smirnov. The origin of the surname is probably due to the word "smyster". In the photo Stanislav Smirnov, Mathematics.

10. Muller - more than a million people

The German surname Muller is the most common in Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Austria and a number of other neighboring countries. Translated from German means "Melnik". In the photo Patrick Muller, a football player from Switzerland.

What are the most common surnames in Russia and in the United States? Think, these are Ivanov and Johnson (John is the English version of Ivan), respectively? This is not quite so, although they occupy prizes in a kind of ranking.

Top 20 most common names in Russia

1. Smirnov
2. Ivanov
3. Kuznetsov
4. Sokolov
5. Popov
6. Lebedev
7. Kozlov
8. Novikov
9. Morozov
10. Petrov
11. Volkov
12. Solovyov
13. Vasilyev
14. Zaitsev
15. Pavlov
16. Semenov
17. Golubev
18. Vinogradov
19. Bogdanov
20. Vorobyov

As you can see, the first listed is the last name Smirnov, the surname of Ivanov will undertake the second line of the list, and the third place belongs to the surname of Kuznetsov.

Consider now the list of the most common surnames in America. Our rating is as follows:

Top 20 most common names in the USA

1. SMITH (Smith)
2. Johnson (Johnson)
3. Williams (Williams)
4. Jones (Jones)
5. Brown (Brown)
6. Davis (Davis)
7. Miller (Miller)
8. Wilson (Wilson)
9. Moore (Moore)
10. Taylor (Taylor)
11. Anderson (Anderson)
12. Thomas (Thomas)
13. Jackson (Jackson)
14. White (White)
15. Harris (Harris)
16. Martin (Martin)
17. Thompson (Thompson)
18. Garcia (Garcia)
19. Martinez (Martinez)
20. Robinson (Robinson)

As you can see, both of these list have similar champions. American Smith (1) has a Russian analogue of Kuznetsov (3), and a couple of Johnson-Ivanov and there and there in second place. Interestingly, purely Latin American realities have already been embryed in American top - Garcia and Martinez. In our top surnames such as Petrosyan or Mamedov have not yet come :)


"As you call the boat, it will swim away," the captain of the famous Lodunhel fought. And does his surname affect human fate? If your surname is the most popular in the world, are you destined to become as popular? To find out this, take a look at the most common names in the world.

The most popular surnames

The greatest number is 300 million people - on Earth have the name of Lee, Chang (Zhang), Van. It is not difficult for us to guess that they are Chinese. In fact, everything is because it is not particularly about to choose the Chinese, there are a billion 300 million people, but the variants of Chinese surnames are only about 500 pieces. For comparison, Russian is much easier - we have 15 thousand versions of family names.

Anything is clear that if there are many people, and there are very few options, it creates a kind of deficit. Therefore, wherever look - whether or vana everywhere. Citizens of Lee - Azh 100,000,000 people. It is difficult to submit such a "army" of the same name. 7.9% of the Chinese - simply. And how many more Vietnamese and even Russians ... There are the same hieroglyph in Chinese writing. He gave the name of this surname. Means this hieroglyph force.

Chinese surname Zhang (Chang) translates - clan. There is another meaning of this word - the head of the book. Therefore, the surname Zhang says either about numerous kinship, or that its carrier is related to literature in his professional activities. Of course, refers to the historical origin of the generic name. There are also about 100 million such names.

The most common surname in Russia

Attempts to find out what surnames are most common in Russia, they are not taken once. One of the first studies was held at the beginning of the 20th century by a philologist from Oxford Oksford Schtokar Henrikhovich Unbegun, a native of Russia. For research, he took in St. Petersburg, opening his address book. She was called "the whole Petersburg". According to this Russian scientist, in the Northern capital, the most common surname for 1910 - Ivanov. And it is not surprising. After all, it happens from the "Russian" name - Ivan.


By the way, and the second attempt to explore the Russian names of the already modern Russia, undertaken by Anatoly Fedorovich Zhuravlev, again launched the leaders all the same name - Ivanov.

And only studies of scientists of the medical and genetic center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences changed this result. Scientists raised largely for the study of the issue - conventionally divided the country to the hypothetical regions and investigated them separately. As a result, their answer - we won ... Smirnov! The surname occurring from the Russian word "peaceful". In the ranking of Unbegun Smirnov - the second, and Zhuravleva is the fourth. In general, the first five Unbegown looks like this: Ivanov, Smirnov, Kuznetsov, Popov, Vasilyev. Option A.F. Zhuravleva: Ivanov, Vasilyev, Petrov, Smirnov, Mikhailov. And on the third version, the popularity rating of Russian surnames looks like this: Smirnov, Ivanov, Kuznetsov, Popov, Sokolov.


Comparing all three works, it can be said that the most common names of Russia are the names of Ivanov and Smirnov, present on the upper lines of popularity in all studies.

It should be noted that one of the most popular surnames in Russia is called the surname of Kuznetsov. If we translate it into English, then we will get the most common name of North America (after the Chinese surname, whether, common and there) - Smith. On the planet about 4 000 000 wear such a surname. And, if you add more options to Kovalev, Koval, then, perhaps, this surname "The All World" stretches with Chinese popularity ratings.


In contrast to the common names of Russia, consider the options of the most unique, interesting and original surnames. I must say that "surname" in translation means family, family. This is the name of the kind, leading its existence from distant ancestors. It must be said that initially the surname was a nickname of a person talking about his personal characteristics or profession, or personality characteristics.

Today, if you look at the telephone directory, there you can see very funny, but at the same time unique names. We read there - the Boreabli, the unwitting, killirevk.

The most common names

One of the most common names on the planet, which is not surprising, belongs again to the Chinese. Often there are men in the world by Kim.

In Russia, men are most often called Alexander. The name is international, it can be found among other languages.


But, despite the fact that the name of Kim belongs to the most numerous nation on Earth, and the men named Alexander are found worldwide, the most common male name in the world - Muhammad and its options. In honor of the prophet, Islam is most often called newborn boys in all countries where this religion is distributed.

Among the female names, the palm of the championship holds - Anna and its variations. Translated from the Hebrew it means - good luck, favor, blessing. You can read more about the most common names.

The leader in all world history in this list, according to the site, is the family, the name of which was not alleged, and digital - 1792. Unfortunately, she graduated from its existence in 1904 in France. To completely confirm the uniqueness of your family, the parents gave their sons the names-months. How do you - January 1792 or March 1792?

In India, in one of the provinces, the parents "compete" in the invent of unusual names to their offspring. There you can meet people whose name is "silver dollar" or "two kilograms of rice".

A woman lives in the USA, whose name consists of 598 letters. And reduce his lady refuses. Well, even though close friends are allowed to call it a short name, otherwise they would have been welcomed by the hostess, having come to visit, would have already had to say goodbye.

Among the famous people, the leader in the unusual name is the artist Pablo Picasso, the full name of which sounds - Pablo Diego Hoza Francisco de Paula Juan unexpeated Crispin Crispiano de la Santisima Trinidad Ruiz and Picasso. Total 93 letters. True, for the Spaniards, this personality is not a very rare phenomenon.

The most common surname in the world

So, the rating of the most common surnames looks like this: the top lines occupy Chinese Lee, Zhang and Van. Next comes Vietnamese surname - Nguyen. Following Nguyen - Hispanic Garcia, Gonzalez, Hernandez. Then the Anglo-Americans Smiths. And finally, Russian Smirnov. Tens of popular surnames Millera (Mullares, Millars) are closed - that in Russian means Melnik.
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    Smith - May Refer To: * Smith (Metalwork), A Person Involved In The Shaping Of Metal Objects * Smith (Surname), An English Name * Smith (2006), An American Television Series * Smith (Band), A 1960s American Rock ... ... Wikipedia

    smith - / smith /, n. 1. A Worker in Metal. 2. A BlackSmith. V.T. 3. To Forge on An Anvil; Form by Heating and Pounding: to Smith Armor. )


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