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US President Surnames Frequency

This page takes a non-random sample of surnames (US Presidents) and analyzes simply the surname frequency aspects.

The table can be sorted. Just click on the column heading to sort by.

# Surname T 1 Origin US 2000 2 UK 2001 3
Rank 4 Freq  5 Pop  6 Rank 4 Freq 5 Pop 6
1 Washington 1 ENG 90  0.092%      258,900 2714 0.005% 2,836
2&6 Adams 2 ENG 36  0.174% 489,700 72 0.126% 74,110
3 Jefferson 1 ENG 460 0.025% 70,400 1506 0.009% 5,284
4 Madison 1 ENG 1094 0.011% 31,000 83 0.063% 37,228;
5 Monroe 1 ENG 523 0.022% 61,900 15671 0.001% 319
7 Jackson 1 ENG 13 0.310% 872,400 25 0.232% 136,405
8 Van Buren
(or Vanburen)		 1 NED 4463 0.003% 8,400 56688 0.000% 42
9 Harrison 1 ENG 115 0.076% 213,900 36 0.193% 113,627
10 Tyler 1 ENG 415 0.027% 76,000 451 0.027% 16,113
11 Polk 1 ENG 1062 0.011% 31,000 64689 0.000% 34
12 Taylor 1 ENG 10 0.311% 875,200 4 0.521% 306,296
13 Fillmore 1 ENG 5790 0.002% 5,600 29692 0.000% 119
14 Pierce 1 ENG 167 0.056% 157,600 1175 0.011% 6,710
15 Buchanan 1 SCOT 443 0.026% 73,200 1032 0.013% 7,644
16 Lincoln 1 ENG 2129 0.006% 16,900 1725 0.008% 4,638
17&36 Johnson 2 ENG 2 0.810% 2,279,500 10 0.329% 193,260
18 Grant 1 ENG 154 0.060% 168,900 139 0.071% 41,861
19 Hayes 1 ENG 100 0.083% 233,600 142 0.069% 40,822
20 Garfield 1 ENG 6038 0.002% 5,600 5659 0.002% 1,215
21 Arthur 1 ENG 1227 0.010% 28,100 980 0.014% 8,010
22 Cleveland
(also #24)		 1 ENG 907 0.013% 36,600 6460 0.002% 1,033
25 McKinley 1 SCOT 1325 0.009% 25,300 4114 0.003% 1,765
26 Roosevelt 2 NED 15060 0.001% 2,800 109436 0.000% 15
27 Taft 1 ENG 3099 0.004% 11,300 6308 0.002% 1,062
28 Wilson 1 ENG 8 0.339% 954,000 9 0.342% 201,224
29 Harding 1 ENG 724 0.016% 45,000 161 0.064% 37,836
30 Coolidge 1 ? 9723 0.001% 2,800 N/F 0.000%  
31 Hoover 1 ENG 571 0.021% 59,100 44534 0.000% 62
33 Truman 1 ENG 5293 0.002% 5,600 2871 0.005% 2,677
34 Eisenhower 1 GER 16178 0.001% 2,800 N/F 0.000%  
35 Kennedy 1 IRE 137 0.067% 188,600 174 0.061% 35,954
37 Nixon 1 ENG 661 0.018% 50,700 468 0.027% 15,788
38 Ford 1 ENG 102 0.082% 230,800 112 0.086% 50,508
39 Carter 1 ENG 40 0.162% 455,900 55 0.150% 87,897
40 Reagan 1 IRE 2000 0.006% 16,900 126 0.049% 28,653
41&43 Bush 2 ENG 304 0.036% 101,300 657 0.019% 11,433
42 Clinton 1 ENG 1706 0.007% 19,700 2617 0.005% 2,961
44 Obama 1 KEN >88799 0.000%   NF 0.000%  
Only 40 surnames are shown. Three pairs of presidents shared a surname (Adams, Bush & Johnson)
and one (Grover Cleveland) served two non-continuous terms.
Notes:
  1. T = Times different individuals with surname held presidency, e.g., Grover Cleveland counts as 1, Andrew John Adams & John Quincy Adams count as 2.
  2. Total US population = 281,421,906
  3. Total UK population = 58,789,194
  4. Rank = Commonness of surname, e.g, 1 is most frequent. Reported by both sources.
  5. Freq = Frequency in percent, For US, reported; for UK, calculated from total population.
  6. Pop = Number of persons with surname. For US, calculated from total population & rounded to nearest 100; for UK, reported.

Correlation

The correlation between frequencies of these names in the US & UK is ~0.786. the correlation between ranks is 0.695.