Most Common Surnames in Massachusetts

Top 3 — Massachusetts

#2 english

Johnson

Patronymic

23,404 people

1 in every 317 Massachusetts residents

Son of John, from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning God is gracious. Johnson stays near the top in Massachusetts because it belongs to the older English naming stock of New England and also crossed easily into later Scandinavian and African American populations.

#1 irish

Sullivan

Patronymic

24,964 people

1 in every 297 Massachusetts residents

From Irish "O Suileabhain," usually glossed as descendant of Suileabhan, a personal name associated with dark eyes. It leads Massachusetts because Boston became one of the main destinations for Irish migration during and after the Great Famine, turning an already familiar Irish surname into the state's most common one.

#3 english

Brown

Descriptive

22,700 people

1 in every 327 Massachusetts residents

From Old English "brun," usually referring to brown hair, complexion, or clothing. Brown is one of the durable colonial New England surnames, common long before the 19th-century immigrant waves changed the rest of the Massachusetts list.

Name origins â€” top 20 surnames

Name origins - top 20 surnames

Name origins — top 20 surnames

Heritage

Irish Boston, Mill Cities, and the Portuguese South Coast

Massachusetts absorbed one of the country's largest Irish inflows during and after the Great Famine; in 1847 alone Boston's Irish-born population jumped by more than 13,000, and by 1855 the city had more than 50,000 Irish residents. Textile cities such as Lowell, Lawrence, and Worcester then layered on French-Canadian and other immigrant surnames during the late 19th century. On the South Coast, whaling and later factory work tied New Bedford and Fall River to the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde, which helps explain why Silva ranks in the top 20 and names like Medeiros and Cabral are so visible statewide.

Did you know? Massachusetts is one of the few states where Smith does not make the top 20 at all; seven clearly Irish surnames, including Sullivan, Murphy, McCarthy, Walsh, Kelly, Burke, and Collins, rank ahead of it.

Top 20 Most Common Last Names in Massachusetts

Showing all 20 surnames

Tap a name to expand meaning

Sullivan irish

24,964

1 in 297

Johnson english

23,404

1 in 317

Brown english

22,700

1 in 327

Murphy irish

20,129

1 in 368

From Irish "O Murchadha," descendant of Murchadh, a personal name often interpreted as sea warrior. Murphy's high rank fits a state where Boston, Charlestown, and later mill cities drew large Irish Catholic communities in the 19th century.

Williams welsh

16,876

1 in 439

Son of William, from the Germanic Willahelm. Williams is common across the United States, and in Massachusetts it sits below the Irish surnames that rose faster in Boston and the industrial cities.

Anderson scandinavian

14,293

1 in 519

Son of Anders or Andrew, from Greek Andreas, meaning manly. Anderson reflects both old Anglo-Scottish settlement and later northern European immigration into Massachusetts factory cities.

White english

14,195

1 in 522

From Old English "hwit," a nickname for someone fair-haired or pale. White is another deep-rooted Massachusetts surname that reaches back to the colony era and stayed common through every later migration wave.

Martin french

13,583

1 in 546

From Latin Martinus, meaning of Mars. In Massachusetts, Martin works as both an old English-family surname and a French-Canadian surname, which helped it travel well in mill communities tied to Quebec migration.

Davis welsh

13,548

1 in 547

Son of David, from Hebrew Dawid, meaning beloved. Davis has the same older New England staying power as Brown and White, even though the state's headline surname story is more Irish than Welsh.

#10

McCarthy irish

13,217

1 in 561

From Irish "Mac Carthaigh," son of Carthach. McCarthy ranks much higher in Massachusetts than nationally because Irish settlement from counties Cork and Kerry fed Boston's neighborhoods and later spread through eastern Massachusetts and the mill belt.

#11

Miller english

12,922

1 in 574

An occupational surname for a miller, from medieval English and Scottish usage. It remains common in Massachusetts, but unlike the Irish names around it, Miller reflects general Anglo-American surname continuity rather than one dominant migration episode.

#12

Jones welsh

12,869

1 in 576

A Welsh form meaning son of John. Jones has been common in southern New England since the colonial period, though in Massachusetts it is pushed downward by the unusual strength of Irish surnames.

#13

Lee english

12,703

1 in 584

Originally a surname for someone who lived near a woodland clearing, from Old English "leah." In Massachusetts, Lee also benefits from later Chinese and Korean immigration, giving one short surname multiple historical tracks into the state's top tier.

#14

Silva portuguese

12,695

1 in 584

From Latin "silva," meaning forest or woodland. Silva's place in the Massachusetts top 20 points straight to the Portuguese and Lusophone South Coast, especially New Bedford and Fall River, where Azorean and Madeiran migration remained dense for generations.

#15

Walsh irish

12,591

1 in 589

From Irish "Breathnach," literally a Welshman or foreigner. Walsh became a standard Irish surname centuries ago, and its Massachusetts rank reflects how heavily Irish family networks shaped Boston and surrounding cities.

#16

Clark english

10,873

1 in 682

From Latin "clericus," meaning clerk or scholar. Clark fits Massachusetts especially well because the name belongs to old English settlement and to a state long defined by churches, schools, and record-keeping towns.

#17

Rodriguez spanish

10,622

1 in 698

Son of Rodrigo, from a Germanic personal name meaning famous ruler. Rodriguez entered Massachusetts' top 20 through later Hispanic migration, especially in Greater Boston and older industrial cities.

#18

Kelly irish

10,385

1 in 714

Usually from Irish "O Ceallaigh," descendant of Ceallach. Kelly is common across Irish America, but in Massachusetts it ranks especially high because the state kept one of the country's densest and most politically influential Irish populations.

#19

Burke irish

10,055

1 in 737

Originally from the Norman de Burgh family name, later fully absorbed into Irish naming. Burke's strong Massachusetts showing reflects the same Irish settlement pattern that elevated Sullivan, Murphy, McCarthy, and Kelly.

#20

Collins irish

9,936

1 in 746

Often from Irish "O Coileain," descendant of Coilean, though Collins also exists in English usage. In Massachusetts, the name reads mainly as part of the state's broad Irish surname layer rather than its colonial English one.

Local Insight

Uniquely Massachusetts

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

Sullivan irish

Ranked #1 in Massachusetts versus #83 nationally. That is 82 spots higher here.

Sullivan is the clearest Massachusetts outlier: it ranks first in the state but much lower nationally. That pattern tracks the scale of Irish settlement in Boston, where the Irish-born population surged during the famine years and remained central to city politics and neighborhood life for generations.

McCarthy irish

Ranked #10 in Massachusetts versus #320 nationally. That is 310 spots higher here.

McCarthy reaches the Massachusetts top 10 while sitting far lower nationally. The name is strongly associated with southern Ireland, and its rise in Massachusetts reflects the state's unusually deep Irish urban settlement in Boston, Worcester, and other industrial centers.

Medeiros portuguese

Ranked #43 in Massachusetts versus #2024 nationally. That is 1981 spots higher here.

Medeiros is one of the state's most distinctive Portuguese surnames. Azorean migration tied to whaling and later factory work made the South Coast a rare American zone where names like Medeiros became common enough to stand out statewide.

Cabral portuguese

Ranked #108 in Massachusetts versus #1956 nationally. That is 1848 spots higher here.

Cabral is far more visible in Massachusetts than in the country as a whole because New Bedford and Fall River became long-running centers of Portuguese and Cape Verdean settlement. Those Lusophone communities kept family names like Cabral rooted in Bristol County across multiple generations.

Cote french

Ranked #117 in Massachusetts versus #1619 nationally. That is 1502 spots higher here.

Cote signals the French-Canadian side of Massachusetts immigration history. Starting in the 1860s, thousands of migrants from Quebec moved into Lowell and other mill cities, where French surnames persisted alongside the better-known Irish layer.

Etymology

Massachusetts Last Name Meanings: Occupational, Patronymic & Habitational

Irish Patronymic and Clan Names

Massachusetts is one of the most Irish-coded surname landscapes in the United States. Sullivan, Murphy, McCarthy, Walsh, Kelly, Burke, Collins, Ryan, Donovan, Shea, and Doherty all rank unusually high because famine-era migration to Boston was followed by decades of chain migration into nearby cities and mill towns.

Sullivan (descendant of Suileabhan) Murphy (descendant of Murchadh) McCarthy (son of Carthach) Kelly (descendant of Ceallach)

Colonial English and Welsh Names

Johnson, Brown, Williams, White, Davis, Miller, Jones, Clark, and Taylor reflect the older New England surname base laid down long before the immigrant era. These names stayed common because Massachusetts never replaced its colonial layer; it simply added Irish, French-Canadian, Portuguese, and later Hispanic and Asian layers on top of it.

Johnson (son of John) Brown (brown-haired or brown-clad) Miller (grain miller) Clark (clerk or scholar)

Portuguese and Lusophone Names

Silva in the top 20, along with Medeiros, Costa, Ferreira, Pereira, Sousa, Cabral, Oliveira, and Gomes nearby, gives Massachusetts a South Coast signature that most states lack. That cluster comes from maritime and industrial migration connecting New Bedford and Fall River to the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde from the 19th century into the 20th.

Silva (forest or woodland) Medeiros (from meadow or pastureland) Cabral (place-based Portuguese surname) Oliveira (olive tree grove)

Quick Answers

What are the most common surnames in Massachusetts?

The most common surnames in Massachusetts are Sullivan, Johnson, Brown, Murphy, and Williams. Massachusetts stands out because an Irish surname, Sullivan, ranks first statewide instead of Smith.

Why is Sullivan the most common last name in Massachusetts?

Sullivan is the most common last name in Massachusetts because the state, especially Boston, absorbed a very large Irish population in the 1840s and 1850s and kept dense Irish family networks afterward. That history pushed several Irish surnames to the top of the statewide ranking, with Sullivan finishing first.

Sources

Forebears - Most Common Surnames in Massachusetts — Primary source for Massachusetts surname counts, frequency ratios, state ranks, and national rank comparisons
U.S. Census Bureau - QuickFacts: Massachusetts — 2010 Massachusetts population used for statewide demographic context
Mass Moments - Bostonians Respond to Irish Famine — State history source on famine-era Irish migration to Boston, including the 1847 and 1855 population figures used to explain Irish surname dominance
University of Massachusetts Lowell - French Canada: Immigration Stories — Overview of French-Canadian migration into Lowell and New England mill cities
New Bedford Whaling Museum - Lusophone Diaspora — Museum reference on Azorean, Portuguese, and Cape Verdean migration to New Bedford and Fall River, including the whaling-era roots of Massachusetts' Lusophone surnames

Information is cross-referenced with official state archives.

#1 Surname: Sullivan
People named #1: 24,964
1 in every: 297 residents
Top origin: Irish
State population: 6,547,629
Census year: 2026

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Most Common Surnames in Massachusetts

Irish Boston, Mill Cities, and the Portuguese South Coast

Top 20 Most Common Last Names in Massachusetts

Uniquely Massachusetts