Lists of most common surnames in Asian countries

This article contains lists of the most common surnames in some of the countries of Asia, in alphabetical order of the country.

Armenia

Source: Armenia's Voter List

Azerbaijan

Bangladesh

Cambodia

China

According to a report released by the Ministry of Public Security in January 2019, there are 6,150 different surnames in China with the top 100 surnames used by 85% of the population in 2018.

Georgia

India

Indonesia

Most Indonesians, particularly from the western parts, do not use family names. Only some ethnic groups maintain family names, such as Bataks, Nias, Mentawai, Dayaks, and most ethnic groups in eastern Indonesia (except some groups in Sulawesi, such as the Butonese).

Israel

Japan

The most common Japanese surnames are Satō (佐藤), Suzuki (鈴木), Takahashi (高橋), Tanaka (田中), and Watanabe (渡辺).

Kazakhstan

Provided here is a list of the 33 most common surnames in Kazakhstan according to the Ministry of Justice of Kazakhstan as of 2014.

• List of the most popular surnames of Kazakhs of Kazakhstan

Korea

Malaysia

Most Malaysians do not use a family last name. There is only a small number of ethnic groups which maintain family names.

Nepal

Surnames in Nepal are divided into three origins; Indo-Aryan languages, Tibeto-Burman languages and indigenous origins. Indo-Aryan surnames are more prevalent than Tibeto-Burman Languages and Indigenous Origins surnames.

1. Rai - Common Surnames of Nepalese/Himalayan Indigenous Nations/Natives. 2. Rai Clans/Septs (Confederation) - Bantawa, Chamling, Kulung, Mewahang, Bahing, Lohorung, Puma, Dumi, Dungmali, Nachhiring, Lingkhim/Lungkhim, Chhiling/Chhulung, Mugali/Lambichong, Athpahariya, Thulung, Khaling, Mewahang, Bayung, Yamphu, Tilung, Sampang, Wambule, Dewas, Jerung/Jero, Waling and Phangduwali. 3. Chamling La-Chamling Language-Rodung as Rai 5. Meaning of Rai - King

Philippines

Due to the 333 years of Spanish colonization of the Philippines, most Filipinos bear surnames of Spanish or other Iberian origin. Provided here is the list of the fifty most common Filipino surnames:

Russia

See also: Список общерусских фамилий (in Russian Wikipedia)

The 20 most common widespread Russian surnames (for males) from the European part of Russia, as calculated by Balanovskaya et al. (2005):

Those Russian surnames that end with -ov/-ev or -in/-yn are originally patronymic or metronymic possessive adjectivals with the meaning 'son of' or 'daughter/wife of' (the feminine is formed with the -a ending – Smirnova, Ivanova, etc.). In older documents such surnames were written with the word syn 'son', for example, Ivánov syn 'John's son' or Il'yín syn 'Elijah's son'; the last word was later dropped. Such names are roughly equivalent to the English or Welsh surnames Richardson or Richards.

The Russian equivalent of 'Smith', 'Jones', and 'Brown' (that is, the generic most often used surnames) are Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov, or 'Johns', 'Peters', and 'Isidores', although Sidorov is now ranked only 66th.

Sri Lanka

Many of the low country Sinhalese have Portuguese surnames as a result of Portuguese colonial rule in that area during the 16th and 17th centuries. Sinhalese native surnames have a Sanskrit origin. Tamils, Sri Lankan Moors and Sri Lankan Malays have distinctive surnames for their own ethnicities.

Many Sinhalese surnames end with Singhe (Sinhala: සිංහ, lit. 'lion'), such as Jayasinghe, Ranasinghe, Samarasinghe.

Taiwan

According to a comprehensive survey of residential permits released by the Taiwanese Ministry of the Interior's Department of Population in 2016, Taiwan has only 1,503 surnames. The top ten surnames in Taiwan accounted for 52.77% of the general population, and the top 100 accounted for 96.56%.

Thailand

There are no common Thai surnames. Surnames were largely introduced to Thai culture only by the 1913 Surname Act. The law does not allow one to create any surname that is duplicated with any existing surnames. Under Thai law, only one family can create any given surname: any two people of the same surname must be related, and it is very rare for two people to share the same full name. In one sample of 45,665 names, 81% of family names were unique.

Turkey

Vietnam

Due to historical contact with Chinese dynasties, Vietnamese has adopted names originating from Middle Chinese. Vietnam is in the East Asian cultural sphere.

See also

• List of family name affixes
• List of most popular given names
• Lists of East Asian surnames
• Lists of most common surnames, for other continents

Notes

References