Most common surnames in Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)

The top 100 family names, ranked by how many people carry them.

Most common surnames in Northern Ireland
RankSurnameOrigin & meaningPeople
1CampbellScottish · “crooked mouth”10,944
2WilsonEnglish · “son of Will”10,229
3KellyIrish9,739
4Johnston—9,619
5BrownEnglish · “brown-haired or brown-skinned”9,483
6Smyth—8,791
7MooreEnglish/Irish8,242
8O'NeillIrish · “descendant of Niall”8,092
9ThompsonEnglish · “son of Thomas”8,023
10StewartScottish · “steward”7,564
11MurphyIrish · “sea warrior”7,360
12Graham—7,125
13MartínEnglish/French · “from given name Martin”7,021
14Quinn—6,932
15RobinsonEnglish · “son of Robin”6,931
16ClarkeEnglish · “clerk or scribe”6,842
17Doherty—6,738
18Hamilton—6,505
19Bell—6,494
20HughesWelsh/English · “son of Hugh”6,445
21Donnelly—6,385
22MurrayIrish/Scottish6,071
23McCann—6,018
24SmithEnglish · “metalworker”5,916
25O'Kane—5,879
26McLaughlin—5,734
27Boyd—5,307
28ScottScottish · “a Scot”5,304
29Armstrong—5,248
30Reid—5,205
31Kennedy—5,151
32AndersonScottish/Scandinavian · “son of Andrew”5,108
33Burns—4,752
34McKeown—4,689
35Gallagher—4,648
36Kerr—4,645
37McKee—4,639
38Patterson—4,478
39Maguire—4,446
40Magee—4,443
41AllenEnglish/Scottish · “from given name Alan”4,433
42Millar—4,425
43Ferguson—4,348
44McMullan—4,339
45Bradley—4,334
46Crawford—4,248
47Mullan—4,242
48Gibson—4,192
49Devlin—4,175
50Hanna—4,111
51McKenna—4,099
52WhiteEnglish · “fair-haired or pale”4,093
53Cunningham—4,013
54Montgomery—4,002
55Boyle—4,001
56McCullough—3,942
57Morrison—3,896
58Elliott—3,893
59Black—3,879
60TaylorEnglish · “tailor”3,799
61McDowell—3,796
62Hunter—3,723
63WalkerEnglish · “cloth fuller”3,714
64HallEnglish · “worker at a manor hall”3,711
65Connolly—3,656
66Craig—3,647
67YoungEnglish · “the younger”3,646
68McBride—3,644
69McConnell—3,620
70McDonald—3,533
71McAllister—3,510
72Duffy—3,433
73Davidson—3,377
74WatsonEnglish/Scottish · “son of Wat (Walter)”3,355
75Kane—3,292
76Ohagan—3,280
77Carson—3,279
78Simpson—3,253
79HillEnglish · “dweller by a hill”3,204
80Henry—3,178
81Irwin—3,134
82Curran—3,107
83GrayEnglish · “grey-haired”3,086
84Gordon—3,082
85WrightEnglish · “craftsman, builder”3,076
86Beattie—3,074
87MitchellEnglish · “from given name Michael”3,066
88McAuley—3,035
89Wallace—3,020
90McCormick—3,015
91Morrow—2,995
92MorganWelsh2,994
93Neill—2,990
94Woods—2,967
95CollinsEnglish/Irish2,954
96LynchIrish2,927
97Henderson—2,920
98Holmes—2,901
99JonesWelsh · “son of John”2,870
100Williamson—2,841

Source: Forebears (non-official). Rankings are updated when the publisher releases new data.

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