Genealogy & Demographics Minnesota 2026 Census Top 20 Surnames

Most Common Last Names in Minnesota

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Minnesota

Top 20 Most Common Surnames - 2026 Census

Top 3 — Minnesota

#2 scandinavian
Anderson
Patronymic
60,035 people
1 in every 104 Minnesota residents

Anderson means 'son of Anders' or Andrew. It rose so high in Minnesota because Anders was a standard given name in both Norway and Sweden, and the anglicized spelling spread across farm country and the Twin Cities alike.

#1 scandinavian
Johnson
Patronymic
85,178 people
1 in every 73 Minnesota residents

Johnson means 'son of John,' but in Minnesota much of its strength comes from Scandinavian forms such as Jonsson and Johansson being simplified in American records. Norwegian and Swedish settlement made it the state's clear number-one surname.

#3 scandinavian
Nelson
Patronymic
39,578 people
1 in every 158 Minnesota residents

Nelson means 'son of Nels' or Nils, the Scandinavian equivalent of Nicholas. Minnesota's long Norwegian and Swedish migration made Nelson far more common here than in most states.

Name origins — top 20 surnames

Name origins - top 20 surnames

Name origins — top 20 surnames

Heritage

A Scandinavian State With a Hmong Layer

Minnesota's surname list sits on Dakota and Ojibwe homeland, but immigration remade the modern statewide ranking. Minnesota Historical Society sources note that by 1900 more than 60 percent of the state's foreign-born population came from Germany, Norway, and Sweden; more than 250,000 Norwegians lived in the state by 1905, and nearly 300,000 Swedes immigrated to Minnesota between 1850 and 1930. The list changed again when the first Hmong family arrived in Minnesota in November 1975, the largest resettlement wave followed the Refugee Act of 1980, and the 2010 census counted more than 66,000 Hmong Minnesotans, most in or near the Twin Cities.

Did you know? Vang ranks 29th statewide in Minnesota, an extraordinary position for a Hmong clan name in the United States, because the Twin Cities grew into the country's largest urban Hmong community after the first arrivals in 1975.

Top 20 Most Common Last Names in Minnesota

Showing all 20 surnames

#1
Johnson scandinavian
85,178
1 in 73
Johnson means 'son of John,' but in Minnesota much of its strength comes from Scandinavian forms such as Jonsson and Johansson being simplified in American records. Norwegian and Swedish settlement made it the state's clear number-one surname.
#2
Anderson scandinavian
60,035
1 in 104
Anderson means 'son of Anders' or Andrew. It rose so high in Minnesota because Anders was a standard given name in both Norway and Sweden, and the anglicized spelling spread across farm country and the Twin Cities alike.
#3
Nelson scandinavian
39,578
1 in 158
Nelson means 'son of Nels' or Nils, the Scandinavian equivalent of Nicholas. Minnesota's long Norwegian and Swedish migration made Nelson far more common here than in most states.
#4
Olson scandinavian
37,811
1 in 165
Olson means 'son of Ole' or Olof. Few surnames signal Minnesota's Nordic settlement more clearly, especially in the southern prairie and western counties where Norwegian and Swedish farm communities took root in the late nineteenth century.
#5
Peterson scandinavian
36,574
1 in 171
Peterson means 'son of Peter,' often anglicized from Petersen or Petersson. It stayed unusually common in Minnesota because both Norwegian and Swedish immigrants brought close variants of the name in large numbers.
#6
Larson scandinavian
27,134
1 in 230
Larson means 'son of Lars.' Minnesota's rank reflects the same Scandinavian pattern that lifted Olson and Peterson, especially in rural Lutheran communities founded during the big settlement decades after the Civil War.
#7
Miller english
25,853
1 in 242
Miller is an occupational surname for a grain miller. In Minnesota it reflects both the common English form and German immigrants whose original surname was Muller or Mueller.
#8
Carlson scandinavian
22,477
1 in 278
Carlson means 'son of Carl.' The name is especially characteristic of Swedish and Norwegian Minnesota, where Carl and Karl were common given names and the anglicized -son spelling became standard.
#9
Hanson scandinavian
21,469
1 in 291
Hanson means 'son of Hans,' a Nordic and German form of John. It fits Minnesota's settlement map well because Hans was widely used in both Scandinavian and German immigrant families.
#10
Erickson scandinavian
18,927
1 in 330
Erickson means 'son of Erik.' It remained highly visible in Minnesota because Erik and Eriksson were common among Swedish immigrants, many of whom arrived during the state's railroad and farm expansion years.
#11
Brown english
16,855
1 in 371
Brown began as a nickname for someone with brown hair, complexion, or clothing. In Minnesota it represents the broad English-language surname layer that never disappeared even as Scandinavian names surged above national norms.
#12
Thompson english
16,547
1 in 378
Thompson means 'son of Thomas.' It is common across the Upper Midwest, but in Minnesota it sits below a cluster of Scandinavian patronymics that pushed many other English names downward.
#13
Williams welsh
14,558
1 in 429
Williams means 'son of William.' It remained a statewide staple through migration from other parts of the United States, especially into Minneapolis and Saint Paul, even though Minnesota's most distinctive surnames tend to be Nordic.
#14
Jones welsh
13,057
1 in 479
Jones, the classic Welsh form meaning 'son of John,' is common almost everywhere in the United States. In Minnesota it is notable less for local ancestry than for how many Scandinavian names outrank it.
#15
Meyer german
12,977
1 in 482
Meyer comes from a German title for a steward or tenant manager. Its Minnesota prominence points to the strong German settlement of southern and central counties, including the Catholic German belt around Stearns County.
#16
Lee english
12,608
1 in 496
Lee originally referred to a clearing or meadow in Old English, but modern Minnesota's Lee families come from several unrelated traditions. The surname's rank reflects both older Anglo-American usage and later Asian American communities for whom Lee is a standard romanization.
#17
Schmidt german
12,376
1 in 505
Schmidt is the German equivalent of Smith, meaning a blacksmith. It stands out in Minnesota because German settlement remained strong enough that many families kept the original spelling rather than anglicizing it.
#18
Swanson scandinavian
11,778
1 in 531
Swanson means 'son of Sven.' It is especially associated with Swedish immigration, which helps explain why it ranks much higher in Minnesota than in most states.
#19
Davis welsh
11,166
1 in 560
Davis means 'son of David.' Like Williams and Jones, it reflects Minnesota's broader American migration streams rather than the state's most distinctive ethnic settlement pattern.
#20
Hansen scandinavian
11,100
1 in 563
Hansen means 'son of Hans' and preserves the -sen spelling more common in Denmark and Norway. Its place in Minnesota's top 20 shows how thoroughly Scandinavian naming traditions entered the state's everyday population.

Local Insight

Uniquely Minnesota

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

Minnesota Historical Society - Native Americans english

Ranked #0 in Minnesota and not reliably ranked nationally in this dataset.

#1 Surname
Johnson
People named #1
85,178
1 in every
73 residents
Top origin
Scandinavian
State population
5,303,925
Census year
2026

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