Khan is set to overtake Smith as the most common newborn surname in England and Wales, ONS data reveals
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.
Traditional British surnames have collapsed in the baby name rankings over just three decades, with Taylor, Brown and Johnson all knocked out of the top ten entirely. ONS data spanning 1996 to 2025 shows Khan now sits second behind Smith, with Ahmed third, Ali fourth and Hussain sixth — while Jones has fallen 43 per cent and Williams by a similar margin. Rob Bates of the Centre for Migration Control warned Britain risks being 'completely unmoored from its heritage'. The same ONS data projects Khan will shortly overtake Smith as the single most common newborn surname in England and Wales.
Smith registrations have nearly halved since 1996, falling from 7,276 babies to just 4,102 last year.
Singh and Kaur, traditionally Sikh names, have risen at least fivefold, while Khan, Ahmed and Ali all recorded roughly twice as many births over the same period.
More than 23,400 distinct surnames were recorded for newborns in 2025, up from 21,600 in 1996, meaning Britain's surname landscape is also becoming far more fragmented.
