In the UK recorded the disappearance of traditional surnames
Over the past three decades, the popularity of native English surnames has fallen sharply, giving way in the rankings to the names of immigrants from South Asia.
In England and Wales, there is a noticeable trend towards the disappearance of classic British surnames. This is reported by the London newspaper Daily Mail, based on data from the National Statistical Service (ONS) of the United Kingdom.
If in 1996 the top ten most popular surnames of newborns were undividedly headed by Smith, Jones and Williams, as well as Taylor, Brown, Davis, Evans, Thomas, Johnson and Wilson, then by 2025 the picture has changed dramatically. Although the name Smith still holds the lead, of the original English names in the top 10 remained only Jones (on the fifth line) and Williams (on the eighth).
Other positions were firmly occupied by names reflecting modern migration processes. In second place was Khan, and the list also included Ahmed, Ali, Hussein, Singh, Patel and Kaur.
The statistics speak for themselves: the prevalence of the names Smith and Williams fell by 43%. At the same time, the use of the surnames Khan, Ahmed and Ali doubled, and the Sikh surnames Singh and Kaur became five times more common.
The expert of the publication Rob Bates, representing the non-governmental organization Center for Migration Control, notes that such dynamics clearly demonstrates the rapid demographic transformation in the country.
Additional confirmation of these trends were the data on the most popular names for newborns in 2025: among boys the absolute leader was the name Muhammad, and among girls the first place was taken by Olivia.
