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Name Lineage

    The surname Small

    An English surname, carried by 40,212 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex S540

    Small: #861 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Small #861, 40,212 people Small: #861 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Small #861, 40,212 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Small is more common than 99.5% of them.

    Origin

    English origin

    Inherited from Old English smæl (“small”). Compare Smail. First attested in the 1200s.

    One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 40,212 people named Small in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 7,678 Americans. That is down 12% since 2000, when the Census counted 45,850.

    #861
    rank among US surnames
    40,212
    people in 2010
    14
    per 100,000 Americans
    -12.3%
    change since 2000 (was #681)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #852Fitzpatrick40,4497,633
    #853Donovan40,4107,640
    #854Mays40,4087,641
    #855Mahoney40,3977,643
    #856Valentine40,3957,643
    #857Raymond40,2757,666
    #858Medrano40,2617,669

    Who is named Small

    Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

    63% of people named Small identified as white (not Hispanic), 31% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

    • White (not Hispanic) 63%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 31%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.6%
    • Two or more races 1.9%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 1.4%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Smalls

    14 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • John Kunkel Small
      American botanist (1869-1938)
    • Albion Woodbury Small
      American sociologist (1854-1926)
    • Sharon Small
      British actress, born 1967
    • Irving Small
      American ice hockey player (1891–1955)
    • Xochitl Torres Small
      American politician from New Mexico, born 1984
    • Kim Small
      Australian field hockey player, born 1965
    • Brendon Small
      American actor, born 1975
    • Carmen Small
      American road racing cyclist, born 1980
    • Bertrice Small
      American writer (1937–2015)
    • Greta Small
      Australian alpine ski racer, born 1995
    • Michael Small
      American composer (1939–2003)
    • Len Small
      American politician (1862-1936)

    Notable Smalls come mostly from the United States (10), Australia (2) and the United Kingdom (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Surnames that sound like Small

    Small has the Soundex code S540, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S540.

    Other English surnames

    All 1,446 English surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Small come from?
    Inherited from Old English smæl (“small”). Compare Smail. First attested in the 1200s.
    How common is the surname Small?
    40,212 people in the United States had the surname Small in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 7,678 Americans. It ranked 861st of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Small?
    In the 2010 Census, 63% of people named Small identified as white (not Hispanic), and 31% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Small?
    John Kunkel Small, American botanist (1869-1938), followed by Albion Woodbury Small.
    Where is the surname Small most common?
    Wikidata records people named Small in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and 1 other country.
    Is the surname Small getting more or less common?
    Less common. 45,850 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 40,212 in 2010, down 12%.
    What are other spellings of Small?
    Smale, Smales, Smalles and Smalls.