The New York Times reveals in restrained disbelief that among the top 10 last names in the country, there are two Hispanic last names: Garcia (#8) and Rodriguez (#9). This is because, according to the article and the US Census, Latinos population grew 58% in the 1990s and now people are embracing their heritage and are not Anglicizing their last names.
I’m surprised García beat out Perez, Rivera or Gonzalez…. The most famous US-Garcia is by far The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia (above), whose father Jose Ramon Garcia emigrated from Spain in 1919 but didn’t have much Latino in him. Others include Andy Garcia (actor)…and….Mayte Garcia, Prince’s former dancer, then wife, and also known for being Tommy Lee’s sometime gf. That’s pretty much it. (Nomar Garciaparra doesn’t count!)
Other famous Garcias around the world include: Gael Garcia Bernal (actor), Charly Garcia (Argentinean rocker god), Alan Garcia (Peruvian president), Sergio Garcia (golfer) and El Gabo, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (writer.)
Read the NYT article here, "In U.S. Name Count, Garcias Are Catching Up With Joneses " and you can search within a list of the 5,000 most common US last names (mis apellidos were nowhere to be found in this list! But its fun to search).
The top 10 last names in the US are:
1- Smith
2- Johnson
3- Williams
4- Brown
5- Jones
6- Miller
7- Davis
8- Garcia
9- Rodriguez
10- Wilson