Top twenty New Zealand Surnames

14/08/2014

The latest year’s crop of Kiwi babies have more names of non-European origin than ever before.

Internal Affairs records show that while Smith, Wilson and Williams are the most popular family names, Singh and Wang at seventh and eighth have overtaken names like Anderson and Thompson. Other popular names include the homophonic Li and Lee, Patel and Zhang.

As diversity increases, the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths, Marriages and Citizenship, Jeff Montgomery is keen to see all New Zealand parents, here and abroad, protect their babies’ rights by registering them.

“More than 20,000 New Zealand citizens have babies overseas each year, with most of these being born in Australia. It is important to also know that kiwi babies born overseas should be registered as citizens by descent, ensuring their immediate access to full rights of citizenship including the ability to get a passport.”

There’s no separate record of the names of those born overseas, but Jeff Montgomery says he doesn’t think there will be much difference in the family name trends.

The changes over the years can be seen in figures for previous years released for the first time by the department today.

“The figures are also affected by how common surnames are among each ethnic group – the fewer surnames within a group, the higher the chances of making the top 20”.

Jeff Montgomery says registering as a New Zealand citizen by descent is very easy – the application form can be downloaded from www.citizenship.govt.nz. Parents can also call free 0800 22 51 51 for help with any questions they might have.

The top surnames for New Zealand, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch are:

Top surnames	1913 (29808)		1963 (64955)		1988 (57999)		2003 (57946)		2013 (58297)
1	Smith		Smith		Smith		Smith		Smith
2	Wilson		Wilson		Williams		Williams		Wilson
3	Brown		Brown		Wilson		Wilson		Williams
4	Taylor		Williams		Taylor		Brown		Brown
5	Jones		Taylor		Brown		Taylor		Taylor
6	Williams		Anderson		Jones		Jones		Jones
7	Anderson		Jones		Thompson		Thompson		Singh
8	Thompson		Thompson		Walker		Anderson		Wang
9	Campbell		Scott		Anderson		Lee		Anderson
10	Johnson		Walker		King		Harris		Li
11	King		Harris		White		Edwards		Thompson
12	Clark		King		Campbell		King		Walker
13	Scott		Martin		Johnson		Walker		Lee
14	Thomas		Johnson		Martin		Martin		Chen
15	Walker		Clark		Scott		Singh		Patel
16	Martin		Young		Harris		Campbell		Zhang
17	Stewart		Campbell		Thomas		Johnson		Martin
18	Wright		Stewart		Hall		Robinson		King
19	Thomson		Robinson		Stewart		Thomas		Harris
20	White		White		Clark		White		Kumar
Top surnames (place birth "Auckland")	1913 (786)		1963 (6259)		1988 (9758)		2003 (11668)		2013 (11760)
1	Jones		Smith		Smith		Lee		Wang
2	Smith		Williams		Williams		Smith		Li
3	Taylor		Taylor		Taylor		Williams		Chen
4	Wilson		Brown		Jones		Brown		Liu
5	Reid		Harris		Wilson		Chen		Smith
6	Thompson		Wilson		Brown		Li		Zhang
7	Brown		Jones		King		Patel		Lee
8	Edwards		Anderson		Patel		Zhang		Patel
9	Mills		Clark		Thompson		Kim		Huang
10	Murray		Thompson		Walker		Wang		Singh
11	Phillips		Walker		Anderson		Jones		Taylor
12	Shepherd		Johnson		Stewart		Wilson		Wilson
13	Stewart		Martin		Thomas		Huang		Jones
14	Armstrong		Scott		Harris		Hall		Brown
15	Bennett		Campbell		Johnson		Taylor		Wu
16	Carter		Matthews		Shaw		Liu		Yang
17	Donovan		Watson		Green		Campbell		Wong
18	Greenwood		Davis		Simpson		Walker		Xu
19	Hodgson		Mitchell		Bell		King		Kim
20	Hogan		White		Martin		Lin		Zhou
Top surnames (place birth "Wellington")		1913 (1807)		1963 (3781)		1988 (3394)		2003 (3739)		2013 (3455)
1		Smith		Smith		Smith		Smith		Smith
2		Brown		Taylor		Thompson		Williams		Williams
3		Williams		Williams		Wilson		Brown		Patel
4		King		Robertson		Williams		Jones		Brown
5		Taylor		Wilson		Campbell		Taylor		Jones
6		Wilson		Anderson		Brown		King		Taylor
7		Reid		Campbell		Jones		Wilson		Wilson
8		Richardson		Robinson		Johnson		Edwards		Robinson
9		Robertson		Turner		Martin		Campbell		Johnson
10		Ward		Brown		Patel		Gray		Anderson
11		Collins		King		Anderson		Ferguson		Campbell
12		Hill		Thompson		Cook		Johnson		Harris
13		Johnson		Young		Ward		Martin		Johnston
14		Jones		Lee		Clarke		Simpson		Mitchell
15		Parker		Jones		Henderson		Davis		Thomson
16		Stewart		Burns		James		Henderson		White
17		Bennett		Clark		Stewart		Scott		Young
18		Campbell		Cook		Tan		Ward		Baker
19		Holmes		Hall		Taylor		White		Collins
20		Murphy		Harris		Thomas		Wright		Fraser
Top surnames (place birth "Christchurch")		1913 (536)		1963 (4715)		1988 (3730)		2003 (5599)		2013 (5628)
1		Smith		Smith		Smith		Smith		Smith
2		Jones		Wilson		Wilson		Wilson		Taylor
3		Rutherford		Williams		Williams		Brown		Brown
4		Taylor		Brown		Taylor		Williams		Jones
5		Wilson		Taylor		Brown		Taylor		Wilson
6		Wright		Anderson		Campbell		Thomas		Williams
7		Cooper		Jones		Thomas		Scott		King
8		Cox		Scott		Wright		Moore		Li
9		Duncan		Wright		Anderson		Harris		Harris
10		Hart		Robinson		Harris		Anderson		Mitchell
11		Henderson		Clark		Jones		Jones		Robinson
12		Roberts		Roberts		Moore		Lee		Scott
13		Thomas		Thompson		Robertson		Robertson		Zhang
14		Watson		Walker		Scott		Watson		Thompson
15		Williams		King		Ward		Hill		Young
16		Adams		Moore		King		Johnson		Lee
17		Allan		Watson		McDonald		Stewart		Wang
18		Allard		Young		Mitchell		Thompson		Johnson
19		Bennett		Gray		Walker		Ward		Martin
20		Boone		Fraser		Davies		Young		Thomson

Ends


Media Contact
Jo Watt
Senior Communications Advisor
The Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua
Phone 04 495 9382; mobile 027 703 6887
Email: jo.watt@dia.govt.nz