Step back into recent American history and popular culture and it’s easy to recall the surnames that seem to define what we knew of this country.
A Smith or Johnson was always on television or in newspaper stories, or perhaps a Jones or Miller was just as ubiquitous. To be sure, those popular American names endure, but there’s new names coming up the charts – and fast.
In 1990, the U.S. Census and its top 10 American surnames were the four listed above along with Johnson, Williams, Brown, Davis, Moore and Taylor. The 2010 Census is just now moving forward, but we know this for sure – there will be changes in the top 10.
In 2007, the Census bureau already had enough data to move aside Moore and Taylor out of the top 10 and welcome two new names – Garcia and Rodriguez, coming in at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively. It was the first time that two Hispanic surnames were listed as among the top 10 most common American names, and Martinez nearly edged out Wilson for 10th place.
That same survey showed some astonishing upward movement of a whole host of Hispanic surnames in the 100 most frequently occuring last names in the United States. Garcia had moved up 18 slots since 1990 to crack the top 10. Rodriguez had climbed 22 notches. Martinez was up 19 slots. Hernandez had shot up the charts by even more – 29 slots – to come in at No. 15.
Lopez was up 32 notches to finish just out of the top 20, (at No. 21), with Gonzalez up 38 slots at No. 23, and Perez right behind it at No. 29. To climb that high, the surname Perez was up 42 positions since 1990. Other Hispanic surnames in the top 100 were Sanchez, Ramirez, Torres, Flores, Rivera, Gomez, Diaz, Reyes, Morales, Ortiz and Guiterrez.
That’s a mouthful of names. Of all those surnames, the one that had climbed the most since 1990, (by 53 slots), was Gomez, which came in at No. 68. The 2010 Census will almost surely have at least three Hispanic surnames in the top 10, with Lopez joining Garcia and Rodriguez. It’s almost as certain that Lopez, and Gonzalez, and possibly Perez will all crack the second 10, meaning that 30 percent of America’s top 20 surnames in 2010 will be of Latino origin.
Think about that development for a moment.
The demographic shift that is reshaping America is surely unsettling to some citizens of this fair land, but this nation has never been a static place. Everything it seems is changing these days. Improvements and advancements in technologies and communications are seemingly leading to instant changes in the way we absorb information, entertainment, and data.
The mix of people and humanity that now make up the United States has traveled a very long way from the Beaver Cleaver 1950s, or the 1970s disco era, or even Ronald Reagan’s America of the 1980s. Those eras were different from the ones before it, just at today’s times are vastly different from the ones that preceded it. Some like to pretend this country was always about one thing or the other, or looked the same, and was suppose to stay that way.
America has always been in some sort of flux since its founding, and today with Garcia, Rodriguez, Martinez, and Lopez bumping past Thomas, Taylor, Moore, and Anderson as ubiqitous American names, you know for sure that this land is your land, from California to the New York Islands, as Woody Guthrie sang.
It’s impossible to say in a paragraph or two what these seismic demographic changes mean to this country, but let’s say one can either accept it as part of ongoing American change, or be afraid the someone or the other is losing his country. I go with choice No. 1, and so does conservative pundit Linda Chavez.
Chavez believes, (correctly I say), that the the great American melting pot is doing, (and has done), to Hispanic immigrants what occurred to Irish, German, Polish and Italian immigrants of long ago eras. America’s vast popular culture and economic system is turning all concerned into Americans of all shades and colors, just like it always has.
Chavez points out that Hispanics are opening businesses at a rate three times faster than the national average, (per Census bureau). There almost 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses generating over $250 billion in revenue, Chavez writes, adding, “They, (Hispanics), are being transformed into the quintessential American, the small and not-so-small businessman and woman.”
I think we’ve been quintessential for some time, even if I didn’t know what that meant until I learned the word in college. Being quintessential American, I will await an upcoming TV series featuring Beaver Garcia and Fonzie Lopez, with brothers Willie Rodriguez and Javier Cavazos rounding out the cast. I had to throw in my own last name there, but hey why not? Basically, as comedian George Lopez would say, I’m feeling very quintessential these days.
`New’ Names Climbing Up American Charts is a post from: The Daily Chisme
