Common Surnames. European origins.

You could guess the most common surnames in the United States, more than likely you have one or more ancestors with that surname, making it difficult to track the right relative.

Some of those family names in the U. S. include Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown, and Jones. However, if your ancestors originally came from a western or eastern European nation, it might be interesting to see what is a common surname there.

Start with Greece, home of ancient civilizations. The common surname in Greece is Papadopoulos. Go to Portugal and the name is Almeida. Travel north to the Netherlands the the common surname is DeJong. Cross the English Channel and there is Smith in England, just like in the United States. In Russia the surname most found is Smirnov.

Check with the names on a European map to see about your ancestors. There can be variations in spellings of surnames even in homelands. Keep in mind, names were many times changed by the families themselves once they moved to America. So it could be similar, exact or quite different.

Examine this additional list of European surnames – Common Names.