Largest number of surnames
Who
France
Where
France ()
With around one million patronymics, France is the country with the largest number of surnames in the world. It is estimated that 200,000 names have dissapeared over the last century while 520,000 new surnames have appeared. The study was published in The Atlas of Surnames, in France. It states that, since 1891, 100 people were born with the name Grenouille (frog), some of whom have changed it to the better sounding Deletang (from the pond). The most common surname is Martin (228,857 since 1891), followed by Bernard (120,573), Thomas (108,141) and Dupont (63,035). Despite its Latin roots, the country boasts of some names with no vowels such as Snp and Vlk.