
Unveiling The Most Common Last Names In North Dakota
One thing I know for sure, it's not my last name.
In fact, nobody can even pronounce my last name correctly. Growing up I wished I would've been born a "Johnson," "Anderson", or some sort of "son." Now, I could really care less when people mispronounce my last name. Heck, I don't even correct them most of the time.
Our friends at Ancestry came out with the most common surnames for each state as of 2023 (pretty good chance there has been little or no movement in the Top 3 during the last year). The Top 3 Last Names in the entire country are "Smith", "Johnson" and "Williams." We share one of our Top 3 in North Dakota with the nation. "Johnson" also made our top 3.
North Dakota's Top 3 Most Common Last Names are as follows.
Coming in at number one "Johnson." Yep, I knew a lot of Johnson's growing up. The second most common last name in North Dakota is "Anderson" followed by "Olson" at number three.
Interestingly, North Dakota is the only state that has "Olson" in the top 3 most common last names. It shows our Scandinavian heritage.
So, how about the states around us?
Montana has "Anderson", "Johnson" and "Smith" respectively. The land of 10,000 lakes Minnesota has "Nelson", "Anderson" and "Johnson" at number one. South Dakota has "Smith", "Anderson" and "Johnson" comes in at number one.
The "sons" still rule supreme when it comes to common last names in the United States. Something tells me this list is going to change dramatically over the next 30 to 50 years as North Dakota and the rest of the country becomes more diversified.
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