From Smith to Singh: The Most Popular Surname in Australian State is Now Indian

The changing face of Victoria has been reflected in the most common surnames, some of which have remained while others have disappeared.

Revellers celebrate the new year in front of Flinders Street Station during New Year's Eve celebrations in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 1, 2022. Diego Fedele/Getty Images

Surname data from Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria has revealed the changing trends among titles in the state.

The Epoch Times has broken down the data to show the shifts over the decades, reflective of Australia’s changing migration patterns.

2024: Singh Reigns Supreme

The surname Singh took the top spot for registered surnames in Victoria in 2024.

The name means “lion” and is common among male members of the Sikh faith and Hindus from Northern India.

The name equivalent among Sikh and Hindu females, Kaur, meaning “princess” came in third place.

Traditionally, all male Sikhs carry the name Singh, while all female Sikhs carry the name Kaur, although this is gradually changing.

Other top contenders included the popular Vietnamese moniker Nguyen in second place, a spot it has maintained for over two decades.

Smith came in fourth, while Williams was the fifth most popular name in Victoria in 2024.

Patel and Sharma followed, with Jones coming in ninth.

Brown was the tenth most popular name.

Wilson, Ali, Tran, Gill, Lee, Khan, Wang, Taylor, Chen, Sandhu, and Thomas completed the top 20.

2014 Stats Show Changes

In 2014, Smith was the frontrunner and Nguyen was the second most common recorded surname.

Meanwhile, Singh had already climbed to the third most popular surname.

Williams, Brown, Jones, Kaur, Wilson, Tran, Taylor, Lee, Wang, Patel, Li, Chen, Zhang, Johnson, Thomas, Anderson, and White were all in the top 20.

Comparison to 2004

Comparing the most popular Victorian surnames from 20 years ago shows the changes that have occurred in the past two decades.

In 2004, Smith was still the most common surname in the state, followed by Nguyen, Brown, Jones, Wilson, Williams, Tran, Taylor, Anderson, and Thomas.

While Nguyen remains, the first and third most common names of 2024—Singh and Kaur—don’t feature in the 2004 top 20 at all.

Other top names from 2004 that have vanished from the most common list for 2024 include Johnson, Ryan, Martin, King, White, Walker, McDonald, and Le.

Travelling Further Back in Time

Stats from 1975, almost 50 years ago, show that every name in the top 20 was of seemingly British origin.

Once again, Smith topped the list, followed by Wilson, Williams, Taylor, Brown, Jones, Ryan, Anderson, Kelly, White, Thomas, Johnson, Walker, Thompson, Clark, McDonald, Young, Watson, Martin, and Davis.

Victoria’s Changing Cultural Mix

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the highest migrant populations in Victoria were from India and China in 2021.

England made up the third nation for migrants coming to Australia.

In 2001, just over 31,000 new Victorian migrants were born in India, with that number reaching just over 272,000 in 2021.

Meanwhile, migration from European nations like Greece and Italy has declined since 2001.

Migration from New Zealand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia had grown, but by modest margins.

Born Overseas

The Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the number of overseas-born Australians has grown to match that in the nation’s founding years.

In 1890, the percentage of the population born overseas was 31.7 percent, that rate declined to just 9.8 percent between 1945 and 1950, before surging upwards.

By 2020, 29.8 percent of Australians were born overseas.

By 2023, the number of overseas-born Australians had risen to 30.7 percent—the first time the percentage had exceeded 30 percent since 1893.