Explore Surnames

Discover family name patterns, geographic concentrations, and unique surnames across New York State's historical death records

NOTE: The New York State Death Index is based on historical data kept by the New York State Department of Health. and generally does not include most data for New York City, whose vital records are kept separately by a different agency. It also does not include most data from the cities of Albany, Buffalo, and Yonkers prior to the year 1915. This affects the statistical information shown on this website.

Most Common Surnames in New York State

The most frequently appearing surnames in the New York State Death Index across different time periods

smith
106,447 records
9% of data
brown
52,074 records
4% of data
miller
50,557 records
4% of data
johnson
46,044 records
4% of data
williams
37,175 records
3% of data
jones
36,683 records
3% of data
clark
29,853 records
davis
28,490 records
murphy
23,653 records
white
23,625 records
martin
22,500 records
wilson
22,444 records
anderson
20,107 records
baker
19,874 records
taylor
19,662 records
moore
19,522 records
allen
19,460 records
thompson
19,434 records
kelly
18,729 records
ryan
18,439 records
lewis
18,347 records
hall
17,965 records
wood
17,851 records
robinson
17,186 records
young
17,160 records
sullivan
17,066 records
thomas
16,993 records
king
16,333 records
green
16,192 records
wright
16,086 records
jackson
15,020 records
harris
14,400 records
cook
14,083 records
scott
13,684 records
bennett
13,598 records
collins
13,283 records
hill
13,139 records
campbell
13,124 records
snyder
13,050 records
murray
12,978 records
phillips
12,913 records
adams
12,449 records
rogers
12,414 records
walker
12,300 records
roberts
12,202 records
cole
11,652 records
reynolds
11,592 records
burns
11,243 records
walsh
11,168 records
ward
10,987 records
palmer
10,926 records
parker
10,830 records
lee
10,602 records
stevens
10,526 records
fisher
10,222 records
nelson
10,215 records
russell
10,131 records
evans
10,077 records
burke
10,074 records
stewart
9,979 records

Geographically Concentrated New York Surnames

Surnames with at least one hundred records that appear predominantly (70% or more) in specific New York counties, suggesting concentrated family settlements

Unique New York Surnames by County

Surnames with at least ten records that appear in only one county in New York (showing up to three examples per county, ordered by frequency)

No unique surnames found

Could not find surnames that appear in only one county with 10+ records

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