Smith

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Smit in NL Netherlands, AR Argentina, ES Spain, Sumit in IN India, BR Brazil, สุมิตร in TH Thailand and Samat in MY Malaysia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 4 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Smith is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate surname1.9M records spelled Smith4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Smit-H, Šmith

• Spanish surname1.6M records spelled Smith35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, France, Argentina, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Smïth, S'Mith, Smîth, Smit'H, Smíth

• Hindi surname118K records spelled Smith23 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Bangla

  Also written Sumith, সমিথ, Smïth, স্মিথ, Śmith

• Greek surname68K records spelled Smith3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, South Africa

  Also written Σμιθ, Σμίθ

• Indonesian surname40K records spelled Smith4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Smïth, Šmîth

• Hungarian surname22K records spelled Smith4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Smïth, Smíth, Smíťh

101 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Smith is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Occupational surname for an iron worker/blacksmith. Early form ‘the Smith’; Robert the Smith at Dunkeld c.1199. Some Scots translated Gaelic Gobha.

  as a name·Scottish Surnames

• In English, from OE smið 'smith, blacksmith, farrier'; first attested Ecceard Smið c975 OEByn

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, English occupational surname; common via British settlement.

  as a word·sanames.co.za — South African surnames

• In English, English equivalent used in place of a German surname

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• In English, A craftsperson who works metal into desired forms using a hammer and other tools, sometimes heating the metal to make it more workable, especially a blacksmith.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• John Smithb. 1580GBEnglish soldier, explorer, writer (1580–1631)
• Joseph Smithb. 1805USfounder of the Latter Day Saint movement and prophet (1805–1844)
• Edward Smithb. 1850GBcaptain of the RMS Titanic (1850–1912)
• C. Aubrey Smithb. 1863GBBritish actor (1863-1948)
• Mary Pickfordb. 1892CAnot in their usual nameCanadian actress and producer (1892–1979)
• Rosalynn Carterb. 1927USnot in their usual nameFirst Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981
• Will Smithb. 1968USAmerican actor, film producer and rapper (born 1968)
• Lil Jonb. 1972USnot in their usual nameAmerican rapper and record producer
• Zadie Smithb. 1975GBEnglish novelist, essayist and short story writer (born 1975)
• Matt Smithb. 1982GBEnglish actor (born 1982)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 648 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Smith?

We estimate roughly 2.6 million people bear Smith (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Smith have the most bearers?

We estimate about 2.4 million people bear Smith in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled smith.

How common is Smith compared with other names?

In the United States, Smith is the most common surname of 7,257,200 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Smith mean?

Recorded meaning: Occupational surname from Old English smið, ‘smith; metalworker’.