Can you name the top 100 patronymic surnames in the United States (2000)?

created by triplet_3

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Answers do not have to be guessed in order
Source: US Census
Patronymic surnames are last names derived from the personal name of one's father or earlier paternal ancestor, eg. Stephenson, Dickens.
Also try: Occupational Surnames

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There are 33 comments for this game.
(Warning: comments may contain spoilers)

Patronymic Surnames Quiz

by triplet_3

Created Jul 3, 2011 in Miscellaneous
Featured Dec 8, 2012
Game Plays 19,319

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Archived comments: show them

	hugojcorbett:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 19:10 GMT		8 points
	As a Brit, I find it interesting that Lewis and Harris are next to each other.

	TheFlyingBarney:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 19:34 GMT		11 points
	Darn, forgot this was US-based so missed pretty much all of the Latin American surnames, which are fairly rare in the UK.

	dancastro:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 20:32 GMT		4 points
	Morales is, at least, dubious. Most likely it's the Spanish plural of "moral" (a mulberry tree) and therefore it isn't patronymic. (The coat of arms of the Spanish surname Morales shows precisely two mulberry trees). Also take into account that Spanish patronymics end in -z, not in -s (if you see Rodrigues, Fernandes, Lopes, etc., they are Portuguese).

	WyattsTorch:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 20:38 GMT		33 points
	I bet the Swedish version of this quiz would be much easier.

Comment below threshold: show it

	fnurt:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 20:49 GMT		16 points
	Failed to get my own name. Can't get much more hopeless than that.

	honkytonkman:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 20:52 GMT		11 points
	The Minnesota version would be way different.

	Wren25:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 20:55 GMT		7 points
	Another great names quiz thanks Triplet 3 As a(nother) Brit I found the Latin American names a challenge, but then remembering my own name can be challenging on Sporcle :-)

	redpegasus:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 20:57 GMT		7 points
	@Rob42 Smith was derived from the person's profession, i.e. blacksmith.

	WCRoentgen:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 21:12 GMT		6 points
	The Hispanic surnames are extremely challenging to me, since even after seeing them listed, I couldn't figure out the Patronymic origin for many. Turns out quite a few may derive from Basque, which helps explain, to me, anyway, their obscurity.

	mathdanmom:	Dec 8th, 2012 at 22:59 GMT		7 points
	Tough quiz! I'm curious about Price and Rice, are those considered first names also, or are they related to a different first name?

Comment below threshold: show it

	Azazello:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 00:06 GMT		4 points
	I was going to try some Hispanic names, but then I thought to myself, "no, Spanish doesn't use patronymics." Facepalm. It would be helpful if in the game notes you included an example of a Hispanic name, as I'm sure many people could get them if they were aware of the general format (-ez ending).

	dancastro:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 00:24 GMT		11 points
	@WCRoentgen: the meanings of some Spanish patronymics are obscure even for native speakers. Of course everybody understands that Martínez means "son of Martín" and Fernández "son of Fernando" (Ferdinand), because the names Martín and Fernando are very common today. But others derive from medieval first names that are no longer used, like Pérez from Pero or Gutiérrez from Gutierre. (Pero is an old form of Pedro [Peter] and Gutierre is a not-so-easily-recognizable cognate of Walter).

	stiggles37:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 03:44 GMT		1 point
	I am certain that there is at least one MLB of NFL player with each of these names.

	elcropsziuq:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 04:18 GMT		0 points
	My last name is a Patronymic surname but in the singular form... of course.. I miss the plural form of it... Only on Sporcle...

	Bobman1:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 04:51 GMT		5 points
	Wow, I got only thirty, which pretty much sucks. Then I checked the stats to find that everyone else sucks, too. In fact, I'm in the sucky 95th percentile. Only on Sporcle.... Living in Seattle I was undermined by all my Scandinavian friends and neighbors; common here (and MN and WI) but not nationwide. Jus not enough guys named Ivar/Ivor!

	johnspartan4187:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 11:28 GMT		0 points
	@tuckeric: What the hell are you on about? Fitz is not a British prefix for starters and I don't think it has anything to do with bastards either...

	quizmistress:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 13:39 GMT		4 points
	Being Welsh helps for this one - most [standard boy's name]+S names are very Welsh. Williams, Edwards, Roberts, Johns, Phillips, James, Thomas, Evans, Owens...

	thewildboo:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 14:22 GMT		6 points
	@johnspartan4187, "Fitz" was used as a prefix when naming illegitimate royal children in England, at least for a time. "Fitzroy" in particular, meaning "son of the king", really meant "bastard son of the king" in that context.

	johnspartan4187:	Dec 9th, 2012 at 15:27 GMT		-1 points
	Ah yeaI remember doing that in History but I'm talking about common names like Fitzpatrick, Fitzgerald etc. All Irish or Norman/Irish

	ari18:	Dec 10th, 2012 at 03:39 GMT		3 points
	I just finished re-reading Njal's Saga, one of the medieval Icelandic sagas... and could not stop thinking of things like "Skeggasson," "Uggasson," and "Sigfusson." Not very helpful here...

	triplet_3:	Dec 10th, 2012 at 08:35 GMT		2 points
	Wow, I come online after not having internet access over the weekend and discover this quiz has been published! Thanks Sporcle! :D

	triplet_3:	Dec 10th, 2012 at 08:38 GMT		3 points
	@mathdanmom: 'Price' is a derivative of 'ap Rhys', meaning 'son of Rhys', and Rice is a version of 'Rhys'.

	iglew:	Dec 11th, 2012 at 05:17 GMT		2 points
	I caught on to the Hispanic -ez names with about 15 seconds left. I managed to blitz out five of them, but sure wished for another minute to get the rest.

	HectorVortac:	Dec 14th, 2012 at 02:50 GMT		2 points
	Once I figured out many Latin names would work it sure helped!...... me to get about 5 more answers. 27; pretty weak.

	frasty:	Feb 6th, 2013 at 11:35 GMT		0 points
	i dont understand what i am supposed to do?