Most Common African American Last Names in the US

Top 100 from the 2010 Census surname list

Williams is the last name shared by the most non-Hispanic Black or African American people in the US: about 774,920 of the 1,625,252 people named Williams in the 2010 Census, or 48%. Johnson and Smith come next. Across the 162,253 surnames the Census Bureau lists, about 32,785,000 people were in this group.

The Census Bureau published each surname's count with the share of people in each race and Hispanic-origin group, so the counts here are estimates: a surname's people times its share. A surname can be common in a group without being mostly that group, so the page has two lists: the surnames shared by the most African American people, and the most common surnames where more than half the people are African American. The Census counts Hispanic or Latino people of any race; the other groups count people who aren't Hispanic and reported one race.

Top 100 African American Last Names

People, in the first list: the African American people with the surname, its count times its African American share, rounded to 10; in the second, everyone with the surname. Share: the part of everyone with the surname who were African American. Mostly African American: the 100 most common of the 7,084 surnames where the share is above 50%.

Shared by the Most African American People

#	Surname	People	Share
1	Williams	774,920	48%
2	Johnson	669,330	35%
3	Smith	564,570	23%
4	Jones	548,520	38%
5	Brown	511,580	36%
6	Jackson	375,580	53%
7	Davis	352,770	32%
8	Thomas	293,010	39%
9	Harris	264,620	42%
10	Robinson	238,050	45%
11	Taylor	213,490	28%
12	Wilson	208,410	26%
13	Moore	200,940	28%
14	White	186,060	28%
15	Lewis	185,270	35%
16	Walker	183,360	35%
17	Green	159,040	37%
18	Thompson	156,660	24%
19	Washington	155,270	88%
20	Anderson	148,490	19%
21	Scott	144,690	33%
22	Carter	134,160	36%
23	Wright	129,570	28%
24	Hill	126,620	29%
25	Allen	126,300	26%
26	Miller	124,970	11%
27	Mitchell	124,960	33%
28	Young	119,510	25%
29	Lee	113,170	16%
30	Martin	110,730	16%
31	Clark	107,020	19%
32	King	105,930	23%
33	Edwards	105,150	32%
34	Turner	105,040	30%
35	Coleman	97,710	45%
36	James	96,910	39%
37	Evans	91,460	26%
38	Hall	87,890	22%
39	Richardson	87,370	34%
40	Adams	85,150	20%
41	Brooks	84,230	33%
42	Parker	83,350	25%
43	Jenkins	81,890	37%
44	Stewart	80,780	25%
45	Campbell	79,050	20%
46	Howard	78,100	29%
47	Simmons	75,980	36%
48	Sanders	75,950	33%
49	Henderson	74,210	34%
50	Collins	73,970	22%
51	Cooper	73,370	26%
52	Bell	71,360	32%
53	Watson	70,470	28%
54	Alexander	69,650	34%
55	Butler	69,020	32%
56	Bryant	68,590	36%
57	Nelson	67,870	16%
58	Jordan	64,040	31%
59	Morris	64,030	20%
60	Barnes	63,900	29%
61	Roberts	63,000	17%
62	Reed	62,690	23%
63	Woods	62,630	35%
64	Dixon	62,610	39%
65	Gray	61,850	25%
66	Phillips	61,660	17%
67	Griffin	61,130	31%
67	Bailey	61,130	22%
69	Powell	60,990	27%
70	Baker	60,590	14%
71	Ford	59,150	32%
72	Holmes	58,450	37%
73	Banks	57,690	55%
74	Daniels	56,490	39%
75	Ross	56,100	24%
76	Rogers	56,010	19%
77	Perry	55,880	25%
78	Patterson	55,050	27%
79	Joseph	54,710	54%
80	Foster	54,530	24%
81	Grant	53,940	38%
82	Hunter	53,100	33%
83	Henry	52,450	31%
84	Owens	51,910	28%
85	Marshall	50,600	28%
86	Morgan	49,440	17%
87	Wallace	48,730	25%
88	Graham	48,260	24%
89	Price	48,250	21%
90	Ward	48,190	19%
91	Hayes	47,960	25%
92	Freeman	47,940	28%
93	Hamilton	47,830	24%
94	Boyd	47,220	31%
95	Gordon	47,170	29%
96	Franklin	46,750	39%
97	Hawkins	45,770	33%
98	Sims	45,220	40%
99	Ellis	44,350	23%
100	Harrison	44,280	24%

Mostly African American Surnames

#	Surname	People	Share
1	Jackson	708,099	53%
2	Washington	177,386	88%
3	Banks	105,833	55%
4	Joseph	100,959	54%
5	Charles	61,211	53%
6	Jefferson	55,179	74%
7	Mosley	47,963	53%
8	Gaines	43,821	51%
9	Dorsey	43,631	52%
10	Rivers	38,662	51%
11	Booker	36,840	65%
12	Pierre	33,913	87%
13	Alston	30,693	80%
14	Mccray	28,024	67%
15	Mohamed	27,972	66%
16	Battle	26,432	77%
17	Louis	23,738	66%
18	Heard	23,408	55%
19	Samuel	23,125	54%
20	Samuels	22,207	53%
21	Dukes	22,187	51%
22	Bolden	21,819	72%
23	Winston	21,667	63%
24	Jean	21,140	70%
25	Mcneal	20,778	51%
26	Starks	20,130	62%
27	Epps	20,112	62%
28	Paige	20,063	52%
29	Mims	19,139	52%
30	Muhammad	19,076	83%
31	Mcclendon	18,857	56%
32	Peoples	18,672	56%
33	Boykin	17,255	50%
34	Woodson	17,242	54%
35	Bellamy	17,167	54%
36	Calloway	16,689	55%
37	Mcnair	16,595	55%
38	Ruffin	16,324	80%
39	Hairston	16,090	81%
40	Lyles	16,062	53%
41	Chatman	15,473	79%
42	Dawkins	15,431	61%
43	Francois	14,593	78%
44	Diggs	14,467	68%
45	Randle	14,437	69%
46	Lockett	14,140	71%
47	Lofton	13,900	56%
48	Myles	13,898	72%
49	Grier	13,868	57%
50	Singletary	13,749	52%
51	Darden	13,414	58%
52	William	13,373	54%
53	Felder	13,257	67%
54	Jeter	13,198	51%
55	Scales	13,190	55%
56	Witherspoon	13,171	62%
57	Spann	12,457	51%
58	Smalls	12,435	90%
59	Braxton	12,268	72%
60	Bethea	12,061	75%
61	Bowie	11,786	51%
62	Mcmillian	11,765	57%
63	Gooden	11,335	62%
64	Barksdale	10,294	55%
65	Hollins	10,213	74%
66	Mcduffie	10,125	56%
67	Lomax	9,789	53%
68	Reddick	9,785	52%
69	Quarles	9,780	51%
70	Artis	9,656	79%
71	Antoine	9,493	77%
72	Ashford	9,421	53%
73	Edmond	9,369	73%
74	Bowens	9,188	76%
75	Buford	9,089	57%
76	Belton	9,041	62%
77	Baptiste	8,915	74%
78	Outlaw	8,901	54%
79	Worthy	8,795	56%
80	Shorter	8,675	58%
81	Trice	8,546	51%
82	Batts	8,473	52%
83	Riddick	8,464	68%
84	Purnell	8,441	62%
85	Sherrod	8,420	51%
86	Faison	8,320	75%
87	Abdullah	8,314	51%
88	Spearman	8,199	52%
89	Guyton	8,191	53%
90	Stallworth	8,155	84%
91	Royster	8,056	61%
92	Canty	8,047	60%
93	Mclaurin	8,045	65%
94	Armstead	7,919	76%
95	Gayle	7,916	61%
96	Jeanbaptiste	7,915	94%
97	Etienne	7,867	82%
98	Mckoy	7,820	83%
99	Luckett	7,790	56%
100	Augustin	7,788	67%

Some surnames are on the second list only: they are held mostly by African American people but by fewer of them, such as Charles, Jefferson and Mosley. Open a surname for its count, rank, every group's share and how it changed since 2000, or see the 100 most common surnames overall. To estimate how many people share a full name, try the full-name estimate; the guide How Many People Have Your Surname? explains the Census counts.

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