Asian surnames now fastest-growing in US as immigration reshapes population

Asian last names dominated the list of fastest-growing surnames in the U.S. between 2010 and 2020, a trend linked to a broader demographic transformation, according to Census Bureau data released Tuesday.

Data from the 2020 head count showed that all but one of the fastest-growing last names among the top 1,000 over the decade were predominantly Asian, with Zhang, Liu and Wang at the top of that group. The five most common last names — Smith, Johnson, Williams, Brown and Jones — remained the top five last names for the second consecutive decade. However, the broader top 15 reflected a longer trend of Hispanic surname growth, with Garcia, Gonzalez, Hernandez, Lopez, Martinez and Rodriguez all entering the list since 2000.

The 2020 head count also recorded 7.8 million distinct last names and marked the first census since 1990 to include first name tallies, with Michael, John and James ranking as the most common men names and Mary, Maria and Jennifer as the most common women names.

The surname shifts reflect population growth driven largely by immigration. Throughout the 21st century, Asians have outpaced every other major racial or ethnic group in U.S. population growth and now account for 7% of the national population. In 2022, immigration drove two-thirds of the roughly 577,000-person increase among people identifying as Asian.

Paul Ong, a public affairs professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the pace of Asian population growth could slow under the current administration’s immigration policies. “Much of the growth of the Asian population has been driven by immigrants and their children,” Ong told the Associated Press. “Consequently, when Asians crack the top surname rank will be pushed further into the future.”

The surname data is one measure of a population that has grown steadily. However, experts and recent research suggest that growth has not translated evenly into social or economic inclusion. A Pew Research Center analysis found that the Asian American population reached a record 24.8 million, or 7.4% of the U.S. population, up from 4.2% in 2000, with Hawaii the only state where Asians make up a majority of residents.

The same analysis found multiracial identification rising across several origin groups, particularly among Japanese, Filipino and Korean Americans. More recently, a Rice University study of the Houston metropolitan area found that roughly four in 10 Asian American residents reported facing racial discrimination despite decades of population growth.

The Census Bureau is expected to release additional analyses from the 2020 name data in the coming months.