# Lists of most common surnames in South American countries

This article contains lists of the most common surnames in most of the countries of South America, including two transcontinental countries. Countries are arranged in alphabetical order.

## Argentina

Most surnames are of Spanish and Italian origin.
| Rank | Surname | Pop. | Pop. % |
| 1 | González | 568,240 | 1.472% |
| 2 | Rodríguez | 483,212 | 1.252% |
| 3 | Fernández | 426,253 | 1.104% |
| 4 | García | 411,462 | 1.066% |
| 5 | López | 393,704 | 1.020% |
| 6 | Martínez | 346,271 | 0.897% |
| 7 | Pérez | 336,094 | 0.870% |
| 8 | Álvarez | 294,527 | 0.763% |
| 9 | Gómez | 290,821 | 0.753% |
| 10 | Sánchez | 271,351 | 0.703% |
| 11 | Díaz | 256,397 | 0.664% |
| 12 | Vásquez | 187,974 | 0.487% |
| 13 | Castro | 173,055 | 0.448% |
| 14 | Romero | 166,497 | 0.431% |
| 15 | Suárez | 160,483 | 0.415% |
| 16 | Blanco | 154,248 | 0.399% |
| 17 | Ruiz | 140,829 | 0.364% |
| 18 | Alonso | 135,893 | 0.352% |
| 19 | Torres | 133,599 | 0.346% |
| 20 | Domínguez | 132,625 | 0.343% |
| 21 | Gutiérrez | 130,607 | 0.338% |
| 22 | Sosa | 129,372 | 0.335% |
| 23 | Iglesias | 126,822 | 0.328% |
| 24 | Giménez | 125,009 | 0.323% |
| 25 | Ramírez | 124,550 | 0.322% |
| 26 | Martín | 123,938 | 0.321% |
| 27 | Varela | 119,674 | 0.310% |
| 28 | Ramos | 118,825 | 0.307% |
| 29 | Núñez | 118,106 | 0.306% |
| 30 | Rossi | 116,775 | 0.302% |
| 31 | Silva | 107,835 | 0.279% |
| 32 | Méndez | 104,668 | 0.271% |
| 33 | Hernández | 104,581 | 0.270% |
| 34 | Flores | 100,092 | 0.261% |
| 35 | Pereyra | 99,884 | 0.258% |
| 36 | Ferrari | 98,761 | 0.255% |
| 37 | Ortiz | 96,761 | 0.250% |
| 38 | Medina | 96,228 | 0.249% |
| 39 | Benítez | 95,628 | 0.247% |
| 40 | Herrera | 94,781 | 0.245% |
| 41 | Arias | 94,537 | 0.245% |
| 42 | Acosta | 92,707 | 0.240% |
| 43 | Moreno | 92,127 | 0.238% |
| 44 | Aguirre | 91,365 | 0.236% |
| 45 | Otero | 89,583 | 0.232% |
| 46 | Cabrera | 88,398 | 0.229% |
| 47 | Rey | 88,394 | 0.229% |
| 48 | Rojas | 81,343 | 0.210% |
| 49 | Vidal | 80,233 | 0.207% |
| 50 | Molina | 80,050 | 0.207% |
| 51 | Russo | 79,882 | 0.206% |
| 52 | Paz | 75,365 | 0.195% |
| 53 | Vega | 74,107 | 0.192% |
| 54 | Costa | 73,932 | 0.191% |
| 55 | Bruno | 73,907 | 0.191% |
| 56 | Romano | 73,458 | 0.190% |
| 57 | Morales | 71,587 | 0.185% |
| 58 | Ríos | 71,534 | 0.185% |
| 59 | Miranda | 70,713 | 0.183% |
| 60 | Muñoz | 70,092 | 0.181% |
| 61 | Franco | 70,055 | 0.181% |
| 62 | Castillo | 69,720 | 0.180% |
| 63 | Campos | 69,447 | 0.179% |
| 64 | Bianchi | 68,510 | 0.177% |
| 65 | Luna | 66,763 | 0.172% |
| 66 | Correa | 66,535 | 0.172% |
| 67 | Ferreyra | 66,461 | 0.172% |
| 68 | Navarro | 66,457 | 0.172% |
| 69 | Quiroga | 66,138 | 0.171% |
| 70 | Colombo | 65,375 | 0.169% |
| 71 | Cohen | 63,575 | 0.164% |
| 72 | Pereyra | 63,367 | 0.163% |
| 73 | Vera | 63,226 | 0.163% |
| 74 | Lorenzo | 63,157 | 0.163% |
| 75 | Gil | 62,727 | 0.162% |
| 76 | Santos | 60,580 | 0.156% |
| 77 | Delgado | 59,333 | 0.154% |
| 78 | Godoy | 58,956 | 0.152% |
| 79 | Rivas | 58,811 | 0.151% |
| 80 | Rivero | 58,604 | 0.151% |
| 81 | Gallo | 57,990 | 0.149% |
| 82 | Peralta | 57,192 | 0.148% |
| 83 | Soto | 55,633 | 0.144% |
| 84 | Figueroa | 55,515 | 0.143% |
| 85 | Juárez | 55,310 | 0.143% |
| 86 | Marino | 54,806 | 0.142% |
| 87 | Ponce | 54,009 | 0.139% |
| 88 | Calvo | 52,282 | 0.135% |
| 89 | Ibáñez | 51,972 | 0.134% |
| 90 | Cáceres | 51,493 | 0.133% |
| 91 | Carrizo | 50,657 | 0.131% |
| 92 | Vargas | 50,613 | 0.131% |
| 93 | Mendoza | 50,588 | 0.131% |
| 94 | Aguilar | 49,717 | 0.128% |
| 95 | Ledesma | 49,645 | 0.128% |
| 96 | Guzmán | 49,543 | 0.128% |
| 97 | Soria | 49,291 | 0.127% |
| 98 | Villalba | 48,602 | 0.125% |
| 99 | Prieto | 48,355 | 0.125% |
| 100 | Maldonado | 47,344 | 0.122% |
| Top 100 | Top 100 | 11,632,320 | 30.093% |
| Total pop. (2005 est.) | Total pop. (2005 est.) | 38,592.150 | 100.000% |

## Brazil

Most of the surnames of the Brazilian population have a Portuguese origin, due to Portuguese colonization in the country (it is estimated that 80% of the Brazilian population has at least one Portuguese ancestor), while other South American countries were largely colonized by the Spanish. However, due to historical immigration, there are also surnames of African, Arabic, German, Italian and Japanese origin. 2010 data:
| Rank | Surname | Share of Brazilian population | Pop. | Origin |
| 1 | Silva | 10.5% | 20,882,120 | Portuguese |
| 2 | Santos | 6.8% | 13,433,982 | Portuguese |
| 3 | Sousa | 4.9% | 9,810,832 | Portuguese |
| 4 | Oliveira | 3.1% | 6,209,493 | Portuguese |
| 5 | Pereira | 2.9% | 5,892,937 | Portuguese |
| 6 | Lima | 2.5% | 5,007,393 | Portuguese |
| 7 | Carvalho | 2.33% | 4,630,387 | Portuguese |
| 8 | Ferreira | 2.29% | 4,590,010 | Portuguese |
| 9 | Rodrigues | 2.27% | 4,510,002 | Portuguese |
| 10 | Almeida | 2.16% | 4,393,398 | Portuguese |
| 11 | Costa | 1.94% | 3,905,800 | Portuguese |
| 12 | Gomes | 1.92% | 3,848,000 | Portuguese |
| 13 | Martins | 1.83% | 3,650,200 | Portuguese |
| 14 | Araújo | 1.69% | 3,320,780 | Portuguese |
| 15 | Melo | 1.62% | 3,209,000 | Portuguese |
| 16 | Barbosa | 1.52% | 3,040,300 | Portuguese |
| 17 | Ribeiro | 1.503% | 3,010,000 | Portuguese |
| 18 | Alves | 1.48% | 2,960,500 | Portuguese |
| 19 | Cardoso | 1.41% | 2,830,120 | Portuguese |
| 20 | Schmitz or Schmidt | 1.33% | 2,673,000 | German |
| 21 | Rocha | 1.27% | 2,540,600 | Portuguese |
| 22 | Correia, Correa | 1.25% | 2,505,070 | Portuguese |
| 23 | Dias | 1.23% | 2,467,000 | Portuguese |
| 24 | Teixeira | 1.2% | 2,408,500 | Portuguese |
| 25 | Fernandes | 1.195% | 2,379,700 | Portuguese |
| 26 | Azevedo | 1.192% | 2,370,000 | Portuguese |
| 27 | Cavalcante or Cavalcanti | 1.188% | 2,366,300 | Portuguese/Italian |
| 28 | Montes | 1.183% | 2,362,000 | Portuguese |
| 29 | Morais | 1.177% | 2,354,500 | Portuguese |
| 30 | Gonçalves | 1.174% | 2,348,000 | Portuguese |
| Top 30 | Top 30 | 64.6% | 128,695,910 | — |

## Chile

All surnames are Spanish in origin, with quite a few of them being Basque (e.g. Araya or Zúñiga).
| # | Either 1st or 2nd surname | Persons |
| 1 | González | 741,388 |
| 2 | Muñoz | 578,673 |
| 3 | Rojas | 413,897 |
| 4 | Díaz | 410,802 |
| 5 | Pérez | 326,867 |
| 6 | Soto | 298,062 |
| 7 | Contreras | 276,887 |
| 8 | Silva | 259,950 |
| 9 | Martínez | 252,966 |
| 10 | Sepúlveda | 251,078 |
| 11 | Morales | 248,448 |
| 12 | Rodríguez | 243,695 |
| 13 | López | 240,181 |
| 14 | Fuentes | 228,609 |
| 15 | Hernández | 226,848 |
| 16 | Torres | 226,480 |
| 17 | Araya | 224,232 |
| 18 | Flores | 221,231 |
| 19 | Espinoza | 219,375 |
| 20 | Valenzuela | 215,025 |
| 21 | Castillo | 213,321 |
| 22 | Ramírez | 211,191 |
| 23 | Reyes | 208,752 |
| 24 | Gutiérrez | 201,734 |
| 25 | Castro | 199,508 |
| 26 | Vargas | 198,471 |
| 27 | Álvarez | 193,002 |
| 28 | Vásquez | 189,946 |
| 29 | Tapia | 179,905 |
| 30 | Fernández | 179,246 |
| 31 | Sánchez | 178,615 |
| 32 | Carrasco | 172,877 |
| 33 | Gómez | 172,758 |
| 34 | Cortés | 171,370 |
| 35 | Herrera | 170,309 |
| 36 | Núñez | 165,806 |
| 37 | Jara | 161,085 |
| 38 | Vergara | 155,118 |
| 39 | Rivera | 147,835 |
| 40 | Figueroa | 145,460 |
| 41 | Riquelme | 143,590 |
| 42 | García | 142,002 |
| 43 | Miranda | 138,939 |
| 44 | Bravo | 138,392 |
| 45 | Vera | 137,646 |
| 46 | Molina | 131,094 |
| 47 | Vega | 128,132 |
| 48 | Campos | 126,260 |
| 49 | Sandoval | 125,640 |
| 50 | Orellana | 123,619 |
| 51 | Zúñiga | 120,757 |
| 52 | Olivares | 120,074 |
| 53 | Alarcón | 118,019 |
| 54 | Gallardo | 117,752 |
| 55 | Ortiz | 117,228 |
| 56 | Garrido | 115,109 |
| 57 | Salazar | 113,881 |
| 58 | Guzmán | 109,922 |
| 59 | Henríquez | 109,364 |
| 60 | Saavedra | 108,702 |
| 61 | Navarro | 107,897 |
| 62 | Aguilera | 107,864 |
| 63 | Parra | 106,100 |
| 64 | Romero | 105,597 |
| 65 | Aravena | 105,441 |
| 66 | Pizarro | 105,352 |
| 67 | Godoy | 103,887 |
| 68 | Peña | 103,377 |
| 69 | Cáceres | 102,830 |
| 70 | Leiva | 99,890 |
| 71 | Escobar | 97,979 |
| 72 | Yáñez | 96,589 |
| 73 | Valdés | 96,528 |
| 74 | Vidal | 96,037 |
| 75 | Salinas | 94,110 |
| 76 | Cárdenas | 93,925 |
| 77 | Jiménez | 92,032 |
| 78 | Ruiz | 91,539 |
| 79 | Lagos | 91,024 |
| 80 | Maldonado | 89,091 |
| 81 | Bustos | 88,445 |
| 82 | Medina | 87,578 |
| 83 | Pino | 86,295 |
| 84 | Palma | 82,735 |
| 85 | Moreno | 82,548 |
| 86 | Sanhueza | 82,383 |
| 87 | Carvajal | 81,785 |
| 88 | Navarrete | 81,729 |
| 89 | Sáez | 80,938 |
| 90 | Alvarado | 79,985 |
| 91 | Donoso | 79,855 |
| 92 | Poblete | 79,248 |
| 93 | Bustamante | 78,732 |
| 94 | Toro | 78,659 |
| 95 | Ortega | 78,086 |
| 96 | Venegas | 76,900 |
| 97 | Guerrero | 76,823 |
| 98 | Paredes | 75,825 |
| 99 | Farías | 75,242 |
| 100 | San Martín | 74,575 |
| Top 100 | Top 100 | 15,802,580 |
| # | 1st surname | % of population |
| 1 | González | 4.7 |
| 2 | Muñoz | 3.7 |
| 3 | Rojas | 2.6 |
| 4 | Díaz | 2.6 |
| 5 | Pérez | 2.1 |
| 6 | Soto | 1.9 |
| 7 | Contreras | 1.8 |
| 8 | Silva | 1.6 |
| 9 | Martínez | 1.6 |
| 10 | Sepúlveda | 1.6 |
| Top 10 | Top 10 | 24.2 |
Note: The source (Civil Registry and Identification Service) does not mention the reference year (it was published in 2008) or whether the count includes only the first surname or both surnames (Chile uses two surnames, but the second one is rarely mentioned). It is assumed the first table refers to both surnames (it is unknown if people having the same first and second surname are counted once or twice) and the second table to the first surname only. It is also unclear whether Chileans living abroad were counted, although it is probable that those that were born in Chile were included, as they were registered at birth.

## Colombia

All names in the list are of Spanish origin (2010 data).
| # | Surname | People |
| 1 | Rodríguez | 707,789 |
| 2 | Gómez | 537,843 |
| 3 | González | 531,484 |
| 4 | Martínez | 530,721 |
| 5 | García | 524,835 |
| 6 | López | 509,880 |
| 7 | Hernández | 454,471 |
| 8 | Sánchez | 449,750 |
| 9 | Ramírez | 427,404 |
| 10 | Pérez | 418,660 |
| 11 | Díaz | 388,419 |
| 12 | Muñoz | 293,759 |
| 13 | Rojas | 286,038 |
| 14 | Moreno | 265,374 |
| 15 | Jiménez | 261,391 |
Source: National Civil Registry (2010)

## Guyana

All surnames are of Indian (of both the Hindu and Muslim faiths) or English origin.
| Rank | Surname |
| 1 | Persaud |
| 2 | Singh |
| 3 | Williams |
| 4 | Khan |
| 5 | Thomas |
| 6 | Joseph |
| 7 | Henry |
| 8 | James |
| 9 | Mohamed |
| 10 | Smith |

## Paraguay

The list of most common surnames in Paraguay, reflected in the national voters register, shows the influence of Castilian Spanish in the Paraguayan society.
Eight of the top 11 surnames end with "ez", the distinctive suffix of Castilian family names. The suffix "ez" means "son of"; thus, González means "son of Gonzalo", Benítez is "son of Benito" and Martínez means "son of Martín". This is similar to the suffix "son" in English (Johnson, "son of John", Jackson, "son of Jack") and to "ic" or "ich" of Slavic names such as Ivanovich ("son of Ivan").
| Rank | % | Surname | Origin |
| 1 | 6.62 | González | Spanish |
| 2 | 4.84 | Benítez | Spanish |
| 3 | 4.18 | Martínez | Spanish |
| 4 | 3.13 | López | Spanish |
| 5 | 2.61 | Giménez | Spanish |
| 6 | 2.54 | Vera | Spanish |
| 7 | 2.08 | Duarte | Spanish |
| 8 | 2.05 | Ramírez | Spanish |
| 9 | 2.01 | Villalba | Spanish |
| 10 | 1.94 | Fernández | Spanish |
| 11 | 1.81 | Gómez | Spanish |
| 12 | 1.78 | Acosta | Spanish |
| 13 | 1.76 | Rojas | Spanish |
| 14 | 1.69 | Ortiz | Spanish |
| 15 | 1.68 | Cáceres | Spanish |
| 16 | 1.58 | Rodríguez | Spanish |
| 17 | 1.57 | Ruiz | Spanish |
| 18 | 1.54 | Núñez | Spanish |
| 19 | 1.48 | Ayala | Spanish |
| 20 | 1.46 | Báez | Spanish |
| 21 | 1.39 | Galeano | Spanish |
| 22 | 1.34 | Herrera | Spanish |
| 23 | 1.27 | Franco | Spanish |
| 24 | 1.25 | Torres | Spanish |
| 25 | 1.25 | Cardozo | Spanish |
All surnames are of Spanish origin, except when noted.

## Peru

All surnames are of Spanish origin, except when noted.
| Rank | % (of the sample) | Surname |
| 1 | 2.175 | Quispe (Quechuan surname) |
| 2 | 2.144 | Flores |
| 3 | 2.031 | Sánchez |
| 4 | 1.987 | Rodríguez |
| 5 | 1.948 | García |
| 6 | 1.66 | Rojas |
| 7 | 1.456 | González |
| 8 | 1.434 | Díaz |
| 9 | 1.412 | Chávez |
| 10 | 1.403 | Torres |
| 11 | 1.395 | Ramírez |
| 12 | 1.373 | Mendoza |
| 13 | 1.364 | Ramos |
| 14 | 1.351 | López |
| 15 | 1.26 | Castillo |
| 16 | 1.26 | Espinoza |
| 17 | 1.172 | Vásquez |
| 18 | 1.076 | Huamán (Quechuan surname) |
| 19 | 1.072 | Pérez |
| 20 | 1.068 | Vargas |
| 21 | 1.042 | Gutiérrez |
| 22 | 0.985 | Fernández |
| 23 | 0.981 | Castro |
| 24 | 0.928 | Mamani (Aymara surname) |
| 25 | 0.928 | Ruíz |
| 26 | 0.854 | Romero |
| 27 | 0.846 | Martínez |
| 28 | 0.832 | Morales |
| 29 | 0.824 | Reyes |
| 30 | 0.802 | Salazar |

## Suriname

| Rank | Surname |
| 1 | Lin |
| 2 | Pinas |
| 3 | Wong |
| 4 | Chin |
| 5 | Mohan |
| 6 | Kalloe |
| 7 | Singh |
| 8 | Lie |
| 9 | van Dijk |
| 10 | Tjin |
| 11 | Kluivert |
| 12 | Semil |
| 13 | Sabajo |