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Surnames often hold the secret to a family鈥檚 past. From ancestral origins to forgotten trades, read on to learn more about the most common last names in Europe, and discover how and why these names came about.听

Diversity

Although it is the second smallest of the seven continents, only Australia is smaller, Europe is ranked third in population, with 2019 estimates at聽 747,183,000 people. It packs tremendous diversity within its 3,930,000 square miles, and is home to both the largest country in the 海角社区, Russia, and the smallest, Vatican City. Europe has more transcontinental countries than any other continent, with France, Denmark, and Norway holding territory in North America, and the countries of Turkey, Russia, and Cyprus straddling both Europe and Asia. With so much linguistic and cultural diversity, it is hardly surprising that each of Europe鈥檚 44 nations reports a different surname as being the most common.听聽

Professional Names

In Europe, many of today鈥檚 surnames stem from a medieval profession. In the United Kingdom, the most common last name is Smith. It comes from an Old English word meaning 鈥渕etal worker,鈥� and a variation of it results in 尝耻虫别尘产辞耻谤驳鈥檚 top surname, Schmit. 础耻蝉迟谤颈补鈥檚 most popular last name, Gruber, means 鈥渕iner,鈥� and 惭眉濒濒别谤, the most common last name in both Germany and Switzerland means 鈥渕iller.鈥� In Slovakia, the popular surname Varga means 鈥渓eather worker鈥� or 鈥渃obbler.鈥澛犅�

Where You Are From

As trade spread throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, surnames began to include a place of origin as a means of distinguishing oneself from other tradesmen and travellers. Thus Rusu, the most common name in Moldova, means 鈥渙ne who comes from Russia,鈥� while Horvat means 鈥淐roat鈥� in Croatia. The name Silva in Portuguese means 鈥渙f the woods鈥�, and it's easy to imagine medieval shepherds and farmers leaving their forested hills to trade their goods in Lisbon and Porto.听

Family Origin

By and large most last names in Europe derive from a patronymic system, where the child is given the name of its father or a paternal ancestor. Hence, Bulgaria's Ivanov means 鈥渟on of Ivan鈥�, the 狈别迟丑别谤濒补苍诲鈥檚 De Jong is 鈥渟on of Jon鈥� and 厂飞别诲别苍鈥檚 Anderson is the 鈥渟on of Anders鈥�. Unique to this list is Iceland, where the most common surname is 闯贸苍蝉诲贸迟迟颈谤. Historically, when a child is born in Iceland its name is dependent on gender, with the suffix -son or -d贸ttir affixed to the father鈥檚 name. If the child were a boy for instance, then the last name would be J贸nsson, and if it's a girl, it is 闯贸苍蝉诲贸迟迟颈谤.听

Naming Laws

Today parents are usually free to name their child as they wish, often combining surnames or even forgoing parental names altogether for something entirely new. Not every country allows such freedom, however. France, Germany, Sweden and Denmark have strict naming laws and can reject a name they feel is inappropriate. In Iceland, spouses keep their surnames and Icelandic citizens married abroad must retain their original name when they return to the island nation.