MEDIA RELEASE
14/08/2014
Top twenty New Zealand Surnames
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 surnames1913 (29808)1963 (64955)1988 (57999)2003 (57946)2013 (58297) 1SmithSmithSmithSmithSmith 2WilsonWilsonWilliamsWilliamsWilson 3BrownBrownWilsonWilsonWilliams 4TaylorWilliamsTaylorBrownBrown 5JonesTaylorBrownTaylorTaylor 6WilliamsAndersonJonesJonesJones 7AndersonJonesThompsonThompsonSingh 8ThompsonThompsonWalkerAndersonWang 9CampbellScottAndersonLeeAnderson 10JohnsonWalkerKingHarrisLi 11KingHarrisWhiteEdwardsThompson 12ClarkKingCampbellKingWalker 13ScottMartinJohnsonWalkerLee 14ThomasJohnsonMartinMartinChen 15WalkerClarkScottSinghPatel 16MartinYoungHarrisCampbellZhang 17StewartCampbellThomasJohnsonMartin 18WrightStewartHallRobinsonKing 19ThomsonRobinsonStewartThomasHarris 20WhiteWhiteClarkWhiteKumar Top surnames (place birth "Auckland")1913
(786)1963 (6259)1988 (9758)2003 (11668)2013 (11760) 1JonesSmithSmithLeeWang 2SmithWilliamsWilliamsSmithLi 3TaylorTaylorTaylorWilliamsChen 4WilsonBrownJonesBrownLiu 5ReidHarrisWilsonChenSmith 6ThompsonWilsonBrownLiZhang 7BrownJonesKingPatelLee 8EdwardsAndersonPatelZhangPatel 9MillsClarkThompsonKimHuang 10MurrayThompsonWalkerWangSingh 11PhillipsWalkerAndersonJonesTaylor 12ShepherdJohnsonStewartWilsonWilson 13StewartMartinThomasHuangJones 14ArmstrongScottHarrisHallBrown 15BennettCampbellJohnsonTaylorWu 16CarterMatthewsShawLiuYang 17DonovanWatsonGreenCampbellWong 18GreenwoodDavisSimpsonWalkerXu 19HodgsonMitchellBellKingKim 20HoganWhiteMartinLinZhou Top surnames (place birth "Wellington")1913 (1807)1963 (3781)1988 (3394)2003 (3739)2013
(3455)1SmithSmithSmithSmithSmith2BrownTaylorThompsonWilliamsWilliams3WilliamsWilliamsWilsonBrownPatel4KingRobertsonWilliamsJonesBrown5TaylorWilsonCampbellTaylorJones6WilsonAndersonBrownKingTaylor7ReidCampbellJonesWilsonWilson8RichardsonRobinsonJohnsonEdwardsRobinson9RobertsonTurnerMartinCampbellJohnson10WardBrownPatelGrayAnderson11CollinsKingAndersonFergusonCampbell12HillThompsonCookJohnsonHarris13JohnsonYoungWardMartinJohnston14JonesLeeClarkeSimpsonMitchell15ParkerJonesHendersonDavisThomson16StewartBurnsJamesHendersonWhite17BennettClarkStewartScottYoung18CampbellCookTanWardBaker19HolmesHallTaylorWhiteCollins20MurphyHarrisThomasWrightFraserTop surnames (place birth "Christchurch")1913
(536)1963 (4715)1988 (3730)2003 (5599)2013
(5628)1SmithSmithSmithSmithSmith2JonesWilsonWilsonWilsonTaylor3RutherfordWilliamsWilliamsBrownBrown4TaylorBrownTaylorWilliamsJones5WilsonTaylorBrownTaylorWilson6WrightAndersonCampbellThomasWilliams7CooperJonesThomasScottKing8CoxScottWrightMooreLi9DuncanWrightAndersonHarrisHarris10HartRobinsonHarrisAndersonMitchell11HendersonClarkJonesJonesRobinson12RobertsRobertsMooreLeeScott13ThomasThompsonRobertsonRobertsonZhang14WatsonWalkerScottWatsonThompson15WilliamsKingWardHillYoung16AdamsMooreKingJohnsonLee17AllanWatsonMcDonaldStewartWang18AllardYoungMitchellThompsonJohnson19BennettGrayWalkerWardMartin20BooneFraserDaviesYoungThomson
Ends