80+ Common Australian & Aboriginal Last Names

Naming expert Dr. Hayley Elizabeth Wilson shares common Australian surnames & where they come from

Co-authored by Dr. Hayley Elizabeth Wilson and Raven Minyard, BA

Last Updated: December 11, 2025 Fact Checked

• Popular
|
• Unique
|
• Aboriginal
|
• Multicultural
|
• Surname Origins
|
• Tips

|Show more |Show less

While many popular Australian surnames have British roots, others are inspired by Aboriginal peoples and cultures from all over the world. In this article, we’ve compiled a list of both common and unique Australian last names with help from naming expert Dr. Hayley Elizabeth Wilson. Plus, we’ll explain the history and origins of these names.

What are the most common Australian surnames?

Naming expert Dr. Hayley Elizabeth Wilson says common Australian last names include:

• Brown (meaning: brown-haired)
• Jones (meaning: son of John)
• Smith (meaning: blacksmith)
• Taylor (meaning: tailor)
• Williams (meaning: son of William)
• Wilson (meaning: son of Will)

Steps

Section 1 of 5:

Common & Popular Australian Last Names

1. 
   Dr. Wilson says, “Australia’s surnames…reflect its diverse immigrant history, shaped first by British and Irish settlers and later by waves of migration from Europe and Asia.” So, she explains that lots of popular surnames are English, which were brought by early colonists, and Irish, as “many Irish convicts and settlers arrived during the 18th and 19th centuries.” Here are some examples:

   • Anderson (meaning: son of Andrew)
   • Baker (meaning: bread maker)
   • Bennett (meaning: blessed)
   • Brown (meaning: brown-haired)
   • Campbell (meaning: crooked mouth)
   • Carter (meaning: cart driver)
   • Chapman (meaning: merchant or trader)
   • Clark (meaning: clerk or scholar)
   • Cooper (meaning: barrel maker)
   • Davies (meaning: son of David)
   • Edwards (meaning: son of Edward)
   • Ellis (meaning: kind or benevolent)
   • Evans (meaning: son of Evan)
   • Ferguson (meaning: son of Fergus)
   • Graham (meaning: gravelly homestead)
   • Grant (meaning: tall or large)
   • Gray (meaning: gray-haired)
   • Green (meaning: one who lived near the village green)
   • Hall (meaning: from the manor)
   • Harris (meaning: son of Harry)
   • Jackson (meaning: son of Jack)
   • Johnson (meaning: son of John)
   • Jones (meaning: son of John)
   • Kelly (meaning: descendant of Ceallach)
   • King (meaning: ruler, monarch)
   • Martin (meaning: of Mars, the god of war)
   • Miller (meaning: one who works at a mill)
   • Murphy (meaning: sea warrior)
   • O’Brien (meaning: descendant of Brian)
   • Ryan (meaning: descendant of Rian)
   • Smith (meaning: metal worker)
   • Steward (meaning: steward or keeper)
   • Sullivan (meaning: dark-eyed)
   • Taylor (meaning: tailor)
   • Walker (meaning: cloth walker or fuller)
   • Walsh (meaning: Welsh-speaker)
   • White (meaning: white haired or fair complexion)
   • Williams (meaning: son of William)
   • Wilson (meaning: son of Will)

   Meet the wikiHow Expert

   Dr. Hayley Elizabeth Wilson is a naming consultant and childhood expert. She shares name meanings and naming tips with her over 20k followers on her Instagram, @little_name_library.
Advertisement

Section 2 of 5:

Unique & Rare Australian Last Names

1. 
   While there are plenty of common Australian last names, there are many that are a bit uncommon, too. Dr. Wilson says some surnames come from places in Australia, while others are tied to local trades and environments. Some of these may be inspired by Aboriginal languages, while others pay tribute to historic Australians, too. Here are some examples:

   • Banjo (inspired by poet Banjo Paterson)
   • Barton (meaning: barley farm, after Sir Edmund Barton, Australia’s first Prime Minister)
   • Bligh (meaning: joyful, linked to William Bligh, a colonial-era governor and captain)
   • Bluegum (meaning: Australian eucalyptus tree)
   • Bush (after the bush, or wilderness)
   • Coolibah (meaning: Australian eucalyptus tree)
   • Darwin (after the capital of the Northern Territory)
   • Eyre (after Lake Eyre)
   • Fielding (meaning: belonging to a field)
   • Flinders (meaning: arrowhead, after Matthew Flinders, who mapped Australia’s coastline)
   • Goondiwindi (tied to a Queensland town)
   • Jarrah (meaning: durable Australian tree)
   • Jondaryan (from a historical pastoral station in Queensland)
   • Kingsford (meaning: king’s ford, after aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith)
   • Kookaburra (meaning: bird with a laugh-like call)
   • Koombana (linked to Koombana Bay in Western Australia)
   • Koora (meaning: rain)
   • Mabo (a Torres Strait Islander surname, after Eddie Mabo, who fought for Indigenous land rights)
   • Melbourne (after the capital of Victoria)
   • Monash (meaning: monastery, after Sir John Monash, a WWI military leader)
   • Murray (after the Murray River)
   • Murrumbidgee (inspired by the river in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory)
   • Ridgeway (meaning: at the ridge-way)
   • Rosella (meaning: colorful native parrot)
   • Snowy (after the Snowy Mountains)
   • Sydney (after the capital of New South Wales)
   • Tarkine (inspired by the Karkine rainforest in Tasmania)
   • Tasman (after Tasmania)
   • Waratah (meaning: a vibrant red Australian flower)
   • Wattle (meaning: Australia’s national floral emblem)

Section 3 of 5:

Aboriginal Australian Last Names

1. 
   Australia is home to hundreds of groups of indigenous peoples, each with their own language and culture. Historically, Dr. Wilson says, “Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people did not use permanent surnames in the same way European settlers did.” However, many last names are inspired by these cultures. Here are some examples:

   • Araluen (meaning: place of the water lilies)
   • Bindi (meaning: butterfly or little girl)
   • Bunggul (meaning: ceremonial song and dance tradition)
   • Cooba (meaning: willow tree)
   • Corowa (meaning: songbird)
   • Corroboree (meaning: sacred meetings or dances)
   • Darwin (linked to Indigenous heritage in the region)
   • Illawarra (meaning: high place near the sea)
   • Jandamarra (meaning: lightning bolt)
   • Jarrah (meaning: hardwood tree)
   • Karri (meaning: significant tree in Noongar country)
   • Kiah (meaning: beautiful place)
   • Kulbardi (meaning: magpie)
   • Kurrajong (meaning: shade tree)
   • Lowanna (meaning: girl or woman)
   • Juritja (rooted in the Central Australian Luritja language and culture)
   • Mallee (meaning: type of eucalyptus tree)
   • Maya (meaning: house or home)
   • Minjerribah (meaning: traditional name for North Stradbroke Island)
   • Ngata (meaning: eloquent)
   • Nukara (meaning: the future, a future place)
   • Talinga (meaning: waterhole or watering area)
   • Tjukurrpa (meaning: Ancestral Dreaming, a core concept in some Aboriginal languages)
   • Uluru (meaning: a sacred sandstone monolith)
   • Wadjularbinna (meaning: protector or guardian)
   • Yarran (meaning: just, the Australian acacia tree)
   • Yirrganydji (meaning: a coastal rainforest people and their language)
Advertisement

Section 4 of 5:

Multicultural Australian Last Names

1. “As Australia became a multicultural nation,” Dr. Wilson explains, “surnames from other backgrounds also grew more common.” She says people from Vietnam, China, India, Greece, and Italy have immigrated to Australia, so it’s common to hear surnames from all sorts of other backgrounds. For instance, some common multicultural last names include:

   • Chen (meaning: ancient)
   • Di Stefano (meaning: son of Stefan)
   • Kaur (meaning: prince or princess)
   • Nguyen (meaning: musical instrument)
   • Papadopoulos (meaning: son of the priest)
   • Rossi (meaning: red-haired)
   • Singh (meaning: lion)
   • Tran (meaning: ancient)
   • Wang (meaning: king)

Section 5 of 5:

Australian Surname History & Origins

1. 
   1
   Many Australian last names have British origins. In the late 18th and early 19th century, the United Kingdom used Australia as a penal colony for convicts. Because of this, many Australian surnames have English, Irish, and Scottish origins. These names were traditionally based on occupation, location or landscape, or family relation.

   • Since then, people from other cultures have also settled in Australia. For example, people from China, Vietnam, and India immigrated there during the Gold Rush. These days, it’s become more common to hear surnames from other cultures.
   • Dr. Wilson agrees and says, “The mix of surnames in Australia represents a blend of British colonial history and…modern diversity.
2. 2
   Other surnames come from Aboriginal languages. Australia has a rich cultural heritage and is home to many indigenous peoples, collectively known as Aboriginal Australians. Many Australian surnames come from Aboriginal languages and are often inspired by nature.

   • Dr. Wilson notes that “according to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), traditional naming could include given names, kinship/‘skin’ names, [and] place-names or descriptors.” She says that later, surnames “were often imposed through employment, institutional records, or government systems.”
   • Because of this, Dr. Wilson explains that “what appears today as a ‘surname’ may reflect European influence, adaptations to colonial record-keeping, or assignment by non-Indigenous institutions rather than an original Indigenous family name tradition.”
Advertisement

Expert Q&A

Search

Add New Question

Ask a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Advertisement

Tips

• Want to learn about other countries’ and cultures’ most popular surnames? Check out our articles on Canadian, Russian, Native American, and Japanese last names.
  Thanks

  Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Submit a Tip

All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published

Name

Please provide your name and last initial

Submit

Thanks for submitting a tip for review!

Advertisement