Top 3 — Iowa
Means 'son of John,' from the Hebrew Yohanan. Scandinavian immigrants anglicized the equivalent Jonsson to Johnson, boosting its Iowa count significantly during the 1870s–1890s settlement wave.
Derived from Old English smið, denoting a metalworker or blacksmith. Smith spread across rural Iowa with the 19th-century farm economy, where blacksmiths were indispensable in every county seat.
Occupational name for a grain mill operator, rooted in Old English mylenweard. It ranks higher in Iowa than nationally because German immigrants named Müller—anglicized to Miller—settled the fertile eastern counties heavily from the 1840s onward.
Name origins — top 20 surnames
Name origins - top 20 surnamesName origins — top 20 surnames
Heritage
German, Scandinavian, and Czech Roots
German families flooded eastern Iowa and the Des Moines corridor from the 1840s onward, making Miller and surnames like Kruse enduringly common. Danish settlers founded tight-knit communities in Elk Horn and Kimballton by the 1870s, anchoring Hansen and Larsen. Czech immigrants concentrated in Cedar Rapids by the 1880s, leaving a lasting mark on surnames like Dvorak.
Did you know? Iowa's Elk Horn is home to the largest Danish immigrant settlement in the United States, which is why Danish-origin surnames like Hansen rank far higher here than in most other states.
Top 20 Most Common Last Names in Iowa
Showing all 20 surnames
#1
Smith
english
25,900
1 in 118
#2
Johnson
english
22,800
1 in 134
#3
Miller
english
19,200
1 in 159
#4
Anderson
english
15,200
1 in 200
#5
Brown
english
13,400
1 in 227
#6
Williams
welsh
12,200
1 in 250
#7
Wilson
english
11,900
1 in 256
#8
Jones
welsh
10,400
1 in 293
#9
Davis
welsh
10,100
1 in 302
#10
Nelson
english
9,100
1 in 335
#11
Hansen
english
8,800
1 in 346
#12
Thompson
english
8,200
1 in 371
#13
Taylor
english
7,000
1 in 435
#14
Moore
english
6,700
1 in 455
#15
Martin
latin
6,400
1 in 476
#16
Clark
english
5,800
1 in 525
#17
Larson
english
5,800
1 in 525
#18
White
english
5,500
1 in 554
#19
Peterson
english
5,500
1 in 554
#20
Harris
english
5,200
1 in 586
Local Insight
Uniquely Iowa
These family names rank far higher in Iowa than nationally — a direct fingerprint of the state's specific immigration waves.
Ranked #450 in Iowa versus #3500 nationally. That is 3050 spots higher here.
Czech immigrants who settled Cedar Rapids's Czech Village neighborhood beginning in the 1870s made this Bohemian surname far more common in Iowa than anywhere else in the Midwest. Linn County remains its stronghold today.
Ranked #380 in Iowa versus #2000 nationally. That is 1620 spots higher here.
Low German in origin, Kruse was carried into western and central Iowa by settlers from Schleswig-Holstein and Westphalia from the 1860s onward, with heavy concentrations in Carroll and Sac counties.
Ranked #520 in Iowa versus #4500 nationally. That is 3980 spots higher here.
Dutch settlers who founded the Reformed Church community in Pella and later Orange City brought Vande Berg and related Vander- surnames into Iowa; Marion and Sioux counties still show the densest concentrations.
Etymology
Iowa Last Name Meanings: Occupational, Patronymic & Habitational
Scandinavian Patronymics
Iowa's Danish settlement in Shelby County and Norwegian enclave around Decorah drove surnames like Hansen, Nelson, Anderson, Larson, and Peterson well above their national frequencies. The -son and -sen endings mark a direct patronymic tradition immigrants carried from Scandinavia in the 1870s–1890s.
English & German Occupational Names
Blacksmiths, millers, tailors, and clerks gave Iowa some of its most persistent surnames. German Müller became Miller, while Smith, Taylor, and Clark spread with the frontier economy that built Iowa's county seats from the 1840s onward.
Czech & Dutch Heritage Names
Cedar Rapids's Czech Village gave Iowa one of the country's most concentrated pockets of Czech surnames, led by Dvorak. Dutch Reformed settlers in Pella and Orange City seeded Marion and Sioux counties with Vande Berg and related compound surnames.
Quick Answers
What are the most common last names in Iowa?
Why are Scandinavian surnames so common in Iowa?
Why is Miller so common in Iowa?
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau — Frequently Occurring Surnames — 2010 Census surname frequency data — primary source for all counts, ratios, and rankings
- Iowa State Historical Society — Research Collections — Settlement and migration records used to contextualize heritage and origin claims
- #1 Surname
- Smith
- People named #1
- 25,900
- 1 in every
- 118 residents
- Top origin
- English
- State population
- 3,046,355
- Census year
- 2010
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Top 20 most common surnames per state - with origins, meanings, and heritage context. Is yours on the list?
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