What are the origins of the great success of the family name Smith?
Whether a skilled trade name or a warrior’s name, Smith was already popular by the early middle ages. Its popularity continued to grow, for a number of reasons. By the time of the 1881 census, there were 422,845 Smiths in the UK, and another 92,052 have been added to that total since. It is thought that the Smith name ranks may have been swelled by those wishing to change their name into something comfortably anonymous; those wishing to “disappear”. Jokes about Smith have abounded over the years with “John Smith” being a name given by anyone caught doing something illegal or embarrassing, to escape detection. Many Smiths were among the first pioneers to colonise the new world. John Smith was the founder of the Jamestown colony in 1607 and was famously saved from execution by the Indian princess Pocahontas. Smiths can be found in all of the US states. The great popularity of the name in the US can be explained by two reasons in particular. Many previous African American slaves took, or
