# Smiles (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/smiles/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 511 |
| US rank (2010) | 42,455 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 604,199 people |
| Change since 2000 | -6.8% (548 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Two main origins: * Scottish patronymic surname from Small. * English topographic surname for someone who lived near a rabbit warren, from the plural of Old English smygel (“burrow”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Smiles in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 67% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 24% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.3% |
| Two or more races | 3.5% |

## Similar surnames

Smalls, Smelser, Samuels, Samuelson, Snelson, Schmalz, Schmelzer, Snelgrove, Smolka.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.