Khan, Ahmed and Ali have DOUBLED as traditional British surnames are replaced in the top 10 for newborns
Sadiq Khan shares a surname that has doubled in frequency among newborn registrations since 1996 and is reportedly on track to displace Smith as the most common in England and Wales.ONS data spanning three decades show that Taylor, Brown and Johnson are among the ten traditional British surnames that have fallen out of the top ten most common newborn registrations in England and Wales.
Four Muslim surnames — Khan, Ahmed, Ali and Hussain — now appear among the ten most common family names registered for newborns in England and Wales, with Khan ranked second and reportedly on course to overtake Smith at number one. Thirty years of ONS data underpin the findings, which show prevalence for Khan, Ahmed and Ali each doubling since 1996, while Singh and Kaur have risen at least fivefold. Rob Bates of the Centre for Migration Control said Britain risks being 'completely unmoored from its heritage'.
Smith fell from 7,276 births in 1996 to just 4,102 in 2025, while Jones dropped 43% and is no longer in the top three.
Taylor, Brown, Davies, Evans, Thomas, Johnson and Wilson — all top-ten fixtures in 1996 — have each slipped to somewhere between 11th and 17th place.
Over 23,400 distinct surnames were recorded for newborns in 2025, up from 21,600 in 1996, as Britain's naming landscape fragments rapidly.
