Name Trivia & Lists
This section is in the process of being expanded. In the meantime, please enjoy some name-related
trivia!
- Muhammad, an Arabic masculine name, is the world's most popular personal name
- Wáng (王) is the world's most popular family name, used by almost 100 million Chinese
- The name John Smith is the most popular full name in the English-speaking world
- Most members of royal families do not have family names, using only their titles
- Traditional Burmese names have only one syllable and no family name
- The longest name in the Bible is Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1)
- The longest known family name, which belongs to a German man, has 588 characters
- About 60% of Danes no longer use traditional patronyms, the highest rate in Scandinavia
- A New Zealand boy born in February 2008 is named 4real Superman Wheaton
- Indonesia is the most populous country where people with family names are in the minority
- The most popular family name in Canada in 2007 was the Chinese name Li
- Six of the top 25 family names in the United States are of Hispanic origin
- Some countries in Eastern Europe maintain official lists of allowable personal names
- Most Portuguese use a matronym followed by a patronym as their family name
- Jackson is the most popular U.S. family name used predominantly by African-Americans
- Half of Koreans share three family names – Kim, Lee, and Park
- Most Hawai'ian personal names are unisex, a rarity among the world's cultural groups
- Most Greek personal names come from the names of the ancient Greek gods
- Matronymic family names were prevalent throughout the Celtic diaspora for centuries
- Dutch family names were not introduced until 1811; there are now more than 100,000
- Hungary is the only European nation where the family name is listed first
- In the Soviet Union, many new names were developed based on political abbreviations
- Initials of middle names are never used in France or other Francophone countries
- Since 1982, the Swedish government no longer requires patrilineal family names
- Family names that use both a matronym and a patronym are called "double-barrelled" names
- Particles, like the French de and le, are never used in alphabetization
- It is common for Portuguese women to have up to twelve words in their full names
- Traditional ancient Roman names had eight parts, including tribe, nickname, and residence
- Prior to the mid-20th century, Persians used their village name for their family name