Most Common Arizona Surnames — Garcia Leads by 60%

Top 3 — Arizona

#2 english

Smith

Occupational

48,000 people

1 in every 133 Arizona residents

From Old English 'smið', a metalworker. Arizona Territory silver camps at Tombstone (Cochise County, 1879) and copper mines at Bisbee (1880s) planted Smith across southeastern Arizona; the name reached every county as Phoenix's postwar suburban expansion drew Midwestern families through the 1950s and 1960s.

#1 spanish

Garcia

Patronymic

77,000 people

1 in every 83 Arizona residents

Basque 'Gartzea' — possibly 'young man' — entered Castilian via Navarre in the 9th century and became Iberia's most widely recorded medieval patronymic. Jesuit missionaries and presidio soldiers carried Garcia north from Sonora into the Santa Cruz Valley by the 1690s; it anchored Tucson's Barrio Histórico and the Mexican-American labor communities of South Phoenix through the cotton and railroad migrations of the 1900s–1920s.

#3 spanish

Martinez

Patronymic

46,000 people

1 in every 139 Arizona residents

Son of Martin, from Latin 'Martinus' (of Mars) — the feast of Saint Martin of Tours made the given name standard across Catholic Europe. Martinez families worked the copper smelters of Clifton and Morenci (Greenlee County) from the 1880s through the mid-20th century, forming the oldest continuous Mexican-American mining community in Arizona.

Name origins â€” top 20 surnames

Name origins - top 20 surnames

Name origins — top 20 surnames

Heritage

Tucson's 1775 Presidio and the Navajo Nation

Tucson's Barrio Histórico traces Spanish-speaking settlement to 1775, when the presidio relocated from Tubac, placing Garcia at Arizona's top while the region was still Mexican territory. Mormon pioneers colonized the Little Colorado River valley (Snowflake, Navajo County) between 1876 and 1885, adding the English patronymics that fill Arizona's middle ranks. The Navajo Nation's Apache and Navajo counties produced Begay — a surname virtually absent from the other 49 states.

Did you know? Begay — derived from the Navajo particle 'biyé' (his son) — is shared by more than 8,000 Arizona residents, a count that exceeds the combined Begay population of all other 49 states.

Top 20 Most Common Last Names in Arizona

Showing all 20 surnames

Tap a name to expand meaning

Garcia spanish

77,000

1 in 83

Smith english

48,000

1 in 133

Martinez spanish

46,000

1 in 139

Johnson english

36,000

1 in 178

Hebrew 'Yohanan' (God is gracious) traveled through Greek and Latin before John became the dominant given name in medieval English parishes — and Johnson its expected patronymic. Midwestern homesteaders arriving on Salt River Project land grants in Maricopa County after Roosevelt Dam opened irrigation in 1911 brought Johnson in disproportionate numbers from Kansas.

Williams english

33,000

1 in 194

Norman 'Willahelm' — will plus helm — made William the dominant post-Conquest English given name, and Williams its patronymic heir. Williams families settled the ponderosa plateau of Yavapai and Coconino counties in the 1880s–1900s as the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad opened northern Arizona to Anglo ranching and timber operations.

Hernandez spanish

32,000

1 in 200

Germanic 'Friðunanð' (bold journey) filtered through Visigothic Spain as Fernando and Hernando before becoming a standard Castilian patronymic by the 16th century. Hernandez concentrations peak in Yuma County — where Mexican farmworker families arrived with the All-American Canal's agricultural expansion in the 1930s–1950s — making it the highest-density Hernandez county in Arizona.

Brown english

30,000

1 in 213

From Old English 'brún', brown hair or complexion. Brown families appear in Maricopa County's earliest tax rolls in the 1870s–1880s, tied to the Anglo ranching and freighting operations that preceded Phoenix's 1881 incorporation, and remain concentrated in the East Valley suburbs of Mesa and Gilbert.

Jones english

28,000

1 in 228

The defining Welsh surname — son of John via 'Ioan'. Mormon settlers from Welsh-origin Utah communities brought Jones to the Little Colorado River valley (Navajo and Apache counties) in the 1876–1885 colonization wave, giving northeastern Arizona a Jones concentration that still exceeds the national per-capita rate.

Davis english

26,000

1 in 246

Son of David, from Hebrew 'Dāwīḏ' (beloved). Davis families established citrus and alfalfa farms in the Salt River Project (Maricopa County) in the 1910s–1920s, drawn by the federal reclamation works that converted the Phoenix basin from desert scrub into irrigated farmland.

#10

Miller english

23,000

1 in 278

From Middle English 'milnere', one who operates a grain mill. Miller families concentrated in Maricopa County's canal-fed farming towns — Chandler — in the 1910s–1930s, many of them arriving after relatives had already settled the Imperial Valley on the California side of the Colorado River.

#11

Wilson english

21,000

1 in 304

Son of Will, a contraction of William. Wilson appears in territorial Arizona court records from Prescott (Yavapai County) in the 1860s–1870s, carried by Anglo miners and merchants who followed the Army's Fort Whipple garrison into what became the territorial capital in 1863.

#12

Lopez spanish

20,500

1 in 312

Latin 'Lupus' (wolf) gave Iberia the given name Lope and its patronymic Lopez across the medieval kingdoms of Castile and León. Lopez families settled Pinal County's Gila River valley agricultural labor camps in the 1920s–1940s as cotton farming expanded east of Phoenix, giving Pinal County one of the highest Lopez densities outside Tucson's Pima County.

#13

Moore english

20,000

1 in 320

From Old English 'mōr', someone near open uncultivated moorland. Moore families arrived with the Southern Pacific Railroad's construction through Pima and Pinal counties in the 1870s–1880s and settled along the Tucson-to-Yuma corridor in the years before statehood in 1912.

#14

Anderson scottish

19,000

1 in 337

Son of Anders (Andrew), from Greek 'Andreas' (manly). Scandinavian-origin Anderson families from Utah colonized the White Mountain plateau (Snowflake, Taylor, Show Low in Navajo and Apache counties) in the 1880s–1890s, giving northeastern Arizona a disproportionate Anderson presence relative to the state's population center.

#15

Taylor english

18,500

1 in 346

From Old French 'tailleur', one who cuts cloth. Taylor, Arizona (Navajo County) was co-founded by LDS settlers in 1878 and named to honor Church President John Taylor — the name's concentration across the White Mountain corridor directly reflects that original Mormon colonization.

#16

Thomas english

17,000

1 in 376

Aramaic 'Tʼōmā' (twin) — the apostle's name spread across medieval Christendom. Thomas families arrived with Arizona's defense industry buildup of the 1940s–1950s — Goodyear Aircraft (Litchfield Park) drew Anglo workers from the Midwest who concentrated the name in Maricopa County.

#17

Robinson english

15,500

1 in 412

Son of Robin, a medieval diminutive of Robert (Germanic 'Hrōdbert', fame-bright). Robinson families appear in Tucson's African American community records from the 1880s–1920s, concentrated in the south-side railroad district that grew around the Southern Pacific shops and the Dunbar School neighborhood.

#18

White english

15,000

1 in 426

From Old English 'hwīt', white hair or pale complexion. White families settled the Sulphur Springs Valley (Cochise County) in the 1880s–1890s as cattle ranching replaced Apache conflicts in southeastern Arizona, and the name remains overrepresented in the ranching communities east of Bisbee relative to Phoenix's metro core.

#19

Thompson english

14,500

1 in 441

Son of Thom, with the 'p' inserted as a 15th-century scribal spelling convention. Thompson families homesteaded the San Pedro River valley (Graham and Cochise counties) in the late 1880s–1890s after the Army's pacification of the Chiricahua Apache in 1886 opened southeastern Arizona to Anglo ranching.

#20

Jackson english

14,000

1 in 457

Medieval 'Jack' — a diminutive of John so common it briefly served as a generic English word for any common man — produced Jackson as a patronymic throughout the British Isles. Jackson families arrived with Phoenix's wartime and postwar expansion in the 1940s–1950s, drawn by Luke Field and the aviation manufacturing corridor, and concentrated in the African American community of the South Mountain district.

Local Insight

Uniquely Arizona

These family names rank far higher in Arizona than nationally — a direct fingerprint of the state's specific immigration waves.

Begay navajo

Ranked #42 in Arizona versus #3000 nationally. That is 2958 spots higher here.

From the Navajo particle 'biyé' (his son), formalized as a surname during federal reservation registration in the 1890s–1900s. More than 85 percent of all U.S. Begay families live on or near the Navajo Nation in Apache and Navajo counties, with the greatest density in Chinle and Window Rock — giving Arizona a per-capita Begay rate roughly 40 times the national average.

Nez navajo

Ranked #87 in Arizona versus #6000 nationally. That is 5913 spots higher here.

From Navajo 'nez' (tall), registered during the late 19th-century federal census and land-administration process on the reservation. Nez is geographically confined to the Navajo Nation's Arizona counties and adjacent San Juan County, New Mexico — Arizona holds approximately 65 percent of all U.S. Nez households, concentrated in Ganado and Many Farms (Apache County).

Ochoa spanish

Ranked #64 in Arizona versus #650 nationally. That is 586 spots higher here.

From Basque 'otxoa' (wolf), carried north from Sonora with the Spanish colonial administration of the Santa Cruz Valley. The Ochoa family were among Tucson's founding merchant dynasties after the Gadsden Purchase (1854) — Estevan Ochoa operated the city's largest freight firm through the 1860s–1880s — and Pima County's Ochoa concentration remains roughly 4 times the national per-capita average.

Flake english

Ranked #430 in Arizona versus #8500 nationally. That is 8070 spots higher here.

Mormon pioneer William Jordan Flake co-founded Snowflake (Navajo County) in 1878 — the 'Flake' in the town's name honors his family directly. Arizona's Flake concentration is almost entirely confined to the White Mountain corridor (Navajo and Apache counties), with roughly 3 times the national per-capita average and a lineage that produced a U.S. Senator.

Udall english

Ranked #810 in Arizona versus #7500 nationally. That is 6690 spots higher here.

From English 'Ewdale' (yew-tree valley), the Udall family settled St. Johns (Apache County) during the 1880s LDS colonization and produced a U.S. Congressman and a Secretary of the Interior from Arizona. Arizona holds roughly 40 percent of all U.S. Udall households, concentrated in Apache County and the Phoenix metro.

Etymology

Arizona Last Name Meanings: Occupational, Patronymic & Habitational

Occupational Names

Smith anchors the occupational tier in Arizona's upper-middle ranks, below the Spanish patronymics that dominate the top. All three arrived through Anglo mining and railroad corridors in the 1880s–1900s and are absent from both the Spanish-surname belt and the Navajo Nation communities.

Smith (metalworker) Miller (grain miller) Taylor (tailor)

Spanish Patronymics

Garcia anchors a Spanish patronymic tier four-deep in Arizona's top 12, rooted in Basque and Latin names filtered through Castile. The concentration reflects 250 years of Santa Cruz and Gila valley settlement — Arizona's most pronounced divergence from the national surname distribution.

Garcia (son of Garci) Martinez (son of Martin) Hernandez (son of Hernando) Lopez (son of Lope)

English Patronymics

Johnson anchors an English patronymic tier eight-deep in Arizona's top 20 — a smaller share than most Southern states. The Anglo migration peaked late, in the 1940s–1950s Maricopa County defense buildup, a smaller wave than the Spanish colonial era produced two centuries earlier.

Johnson (son of John) Williams (son of William) Anderson (son of Anders) Jackson (son of Jack)

Quick Answers

What are the most common last names in Arizona?

The most common last names in Arizona include Garcia, Smith, Martinez, Johnson, and Williams. Garcia ranks first in this file, reflecting the depth of Spanish and Mexican settlement in the state.

Why are Spanish last names so common in Arizona?

Spanish last names rank high in Arizona because Spanish and Mexican settlement long predated U.S. control, especially in the Tucson and Santa Cruz Valley region. That history helps explain why Garcia, Martinez, Hernandez, and Lopez all sit near the top.

Why is Begay associated with Arizona?

Begay is strongly associated with Arizona because the Navajo Nation extends across northeastern Arizona and anchors one of the country's most concentrated Indigenous surname landscapes. That makes Begay far more characteristic of Arizona than of most other states.

Sources

U.S. Census Bureau — Frequently Occurring Surnames — 2010 Census surname frequency data — primary source for all counts, ratios, and rankings
Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records — Territorial-era land records, census data, and Spanish colonial mission documents for early Arizona surname research
Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department — Resources on Navajo naming traditions and the registration of clan-based surnames during the federal reservation period

Information is cross-referenced with official state archives.

#1 Surname: Garcia
People named #1: 77,000
1 in every: 83 residents
Top origin: English
State population: 6,392,017
Census year: 2010

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Most Common Last Names in Arizona

Tucson's 1775 Presidio and the Navajo Nation

Top 20 Most Common Last Names in Arizona

Uniquely Arizona