Here's Why So Many People Are Named Smith
It's the most popular last name in the English-speaking world, so chances are you know a Smith or two.
Luckily, George Lucas edited himself with that one and went with the last name Jones instead (though it's still another wildly popular last name as well.)
It holds the title as the most popular last name in England (where it originated), Australia, the United States (where there are at least 2 million), and it's second most popular in Canada as well.
At the time the British didn't use last names, so they were a fresh slate for the Norman tradition of further distinguishing their citizens.
*Valleys were sometimes known as 'bottoms'
Smith is an Anglo-Saxon word derived from smite (to hit with a hammer) according to The Origin and History of The Name Smith.
And that's a lot of smiths, considering towns would have multiple people doing the same job.
Some of the first settlers were named Smith, and Native Americans adopted the last name to integrate themselves respectably into society similar to many Jews and Germans who changed their names for the same reasons. Later, slaveowners also gave the name to their slaves and Smith slowly became the most popular English-speaking name.
In Portuguese, Ferreira (derived from ferriero which means blacksmith) is one of their most popular names along with Haddad in Arabic and Kovács in Hungarian.