Khan to overtake Smith as most common English surname
Story by Ben Butcher, Mariana Hallal, Charles Hymas
Khan is set to replace Smith as the most popular surname for newborns next year, an analysis of official data by The Telegraph showed.
Smith is believed to have been the most common family name in England for centuries but has been in decline for the past 30 years.
Khan is poised to overtake it in 2027, with the traditionally Muslim name more than doubling in popularity in the last 30 years.
Data showed that 4,102 babies were born with the surname Smith in England and Wales in 2025.
Khan was the second most common with 3,772.
However, Smith’s 4 per cent average annual decline in popularity and Khan’s 1.9 per cent average annual increase suggested that Smith would lose its top spot as soon as 2027.
Muhammed is also the most common first name for boys born in England.
Nuni Jorgensen, researcher for Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, said the pattern reflected the impact of migration, with Khan being a common surname in South Asian countries.
“Immigration from south Asian countries to the UK has risen over the past few years, particularly since 2021,” she said.
“Second, fertility rates affect the number of babies born to people of different backgrounds.
“Recently, UK-born women have been having fewer babies. This means that migrant mothers from these areas make up a bigger share of births.
“Finally, some communities share a smaller number of surnames, which makes each one more common, although we do not have good data to show to what extent this applies to the names Khan or Smith.”
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