We've learned that every person has a surname.And is there an exception?Are there many names in the world?When and where appeared the very first?Which ones are the most popular in the world and in individual countries?If you are interested in answers to these questions, read everything in order in the article.
inherited from ancestors is different
It is impossible to imagine a person without a surname.Nevertheless, there are such people.For example, people in Iceland cost only personal name and patronymic (patronymic).At the beginning of XX century.in this country, even a law was passed prohibiting the indigenous Icelanders have surnames.Since then, it has only foreigners or have foreign roots.In addition, the names of the residents is not underdeveloped countries of Africa and Asia, it is used to distinguish the nickname.The rest of the world, people have long been accustomed to use generic names and not imagine my life without them.Over time, stood out the most common and popular names.Some, on the contrary, have become rare and strange.
Originally from ancient
origin of this specific generic name refers to the times of ancient Rome.The Latin word familia means "family" or "clan".In Russia, such self-name appeared in the XIV century.and gradually replaced the personal nickname.In any country, the first names of the aristocracy received and then passed on to the tradition of other classes, gradually reaching the lowest.
Reflecting the characteristics of a language and culture in the world there are many different names.It is difficult to calculate how much they total in the world, but it is possible to identify the most popular names.If you look at this ranking, it seems that the shorter, more popular.The top four lines occupy Asian generic names, because it is often popular names were formed from the characters.
the top five most-
first place - Lee (Lee, Li, Ly).According to unofficial statistics, it are more than 100 million people worldwide.Most of them live in China, Vietnam and Korea, but among them there are a lot of Europeans and Americans, which is a family name inherited from some ancestor.
second place in the ranking of "most popular names" - Chang (Chang, Zhang).This Chinese family name appeared more than 4 thousand years ago, and during this time has become one of the most common in Asia and around the world.She has options Zhang and Chen.
Third place - Van (or Wong, Latin written Wang).Like many popular names, it originated in China.This is not surprising when we remember that about one and a half billion people on the planet by ethnic Chinese.And because Chinese surnames, there are only 450, it becomes clear why some of them so often repeated.
Fourth place - Vietnamese surname Nguyen (Nguyen).It is so common that in Vietnam are 40% of its citizens.This is hard to imagine in a European country.
second five most-most
The next three lines of the rating took Spanish and Portuguese popular names.
Fifth place - Garcia.This Spanish name of many on hearing.It is very popular in Spain itself, as well as in South America, Cuba and the Philippines.
Sixth place - Gonzales (or Gonzalez).Another very common surname in the Spanish-speaking world.
Seventh place - Hernandez.Formed in the XV century, is now a generic name are residents in Spain, Chile, Mexico, the United States and certain other countries.
last three popular names in the global top ten come from English, Russian and German languages.
Eighth place - Smith.This is the most frequent surname in England, Australia and the United States.Translated into Russian, it means "blacksmith".
Many popular English names associated with the names of professions.For example: Potter ("Potter"), Miller ("Miller"), Baker ("Baker"), Cook ("Cook"), Ward ("guard"), Butler ("Butler"), etc.The names of colors at least are often the source of origin of such popular English names as Brown ("Brown"), White ("White), Green (" Green), Gray ("gray), Black (" black "), etc.. d.
Ninth place - Smirnov.There are several theories about the origin of this name.On one of them, it comes from the word "meek" and on the other - from the ancient Russian greeting: "Since the new world!".Just as the English popular names in Russia are often formed from the names of the first professions: Kuznetsov, Melnikov, Goncharov, Popov, Stolyarov.
tenth place world ranking - Muller.This is also a "professional" generic name: translated from German means "miller".This surname is common in all speakers of this language countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg.
study of names - it is an exciting experience, and as one of the ways to immerse yourself in the language and culture of a country.
