Can You Match Each Surname to Its Country of Origin?

By: John Miller
Estimated Completion Time
1 min
Can You Match Each Surname to Its Country of Origin?
Image: shutterstock

About This Quiz

"You know nothing, Jon Snow.” And when it comes to the medieval adventurer, that may be true. But what we do know about our hero's surname, Snow, is that it's not very popular - it barely cracks the top 4,000 when compared to the other last names on Earth. We also know that Snow has its origins in Old English language...and thus, it originated on the European continent.

Do you have any idea where your own surname originates? Or are you still convinced that "Smith” probably pinpoints your ancestors somewhere in the area of Moscow?

Last names offer incredible clues and insights into everyone who has one. It says something about where your ancestors lived and maybe even what they did to make a living. Even the particular spelling of a surname changes, depending on the movements of peoples around the world.

Digging into the origins of last names doesn't just reveal a geological place, it unearths a whole subculture that's affected by economics, politics, and even war. As a result, many families changed their last names (or altered the spelling) to make themselves more acceptable in new societies.

So whether you're a Smith or Sitnikov, your name tells a story. Take our quiz and see if you can match these surnames to the places they came from!

Smith
Turkey
England
Russia
Dubois
Australia
France
Japan
Jones
Wales
Uruguay
Mexico

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Garcia
Norway
Iceland
Spain
Ivanov
Russia
America
Ecuador
Chang
Canada
China
United States

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Hernandez
Vietnam
Russia
Spain
Connor
Angola
Ireland
Cambodia
Muller
South Sudan
Germany
Laos

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Martin
Italy
Greenland
Moldavia
Sato
Japan
Turkey
Maldives
Brown
Peru
Nigeria
England

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Kim
Ghana
Ireland
Korea
Shevchenko
India
Ukraine
Canada
Zhang
Korea
Australia
China

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Nguyen
Belgium
France
Vietnam
Oza
United States
India
France
Murphy
El Salvador
Iran
Ireland

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Smirnov
Argentina
New Zealand
Russia
Suzuki
Mongolia
Japan
Italy
Fernández
Sweden
Norway
Spain

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Chandler
England
Congo
Brazil
Wang
Congo
Latvia
China
Rossi
Angola
Italy
China

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Gruber
Iraq
Ethiopia
Germany
Tan
Turkey
Colombia
Mali
Pretorius
Slovakia
China
South Africa

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Singh
Pakistan
India
Uganda
Nielsen
Denmark
Japan
Fogo
Yılmaz
Mexico
Turkey
Paraguay

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