Most people will have been shocked, but not surprised, to read last week’s data comparing the most common surnames given to newborn babies in England and Wales today to the same names of 30 years ago. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 1996, the Top10 were Smith, Jones, Williams, Taylor, Brown, Davies, Evans, Thomas, Johnson and Wilson. In 2026, the same list includes Khan, Ahmed, Ali, Hussain, Singh, Patel and Kaur.
Why the English feel unsettled
That the most common surnames in England are mostly Asian speaks to an unprecedented, convulsive demographic shift.
