The Smeets surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 151 people carried this name — #115,639 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 2,000,000 people counted. That is up 17% from 129 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Smeets surname
From smid + -s, being a specifically Limburgish variant.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Smeets» (Dutch), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Belgium’s population register
At least 3,487 people named Smeets live in Belgium.
Statbel only publishes a name in a municipality when five or more people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Limburg.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
Statbel (Statistics Belgium), family names of the population by municipality, 1 January 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 77 people named Smeets.
32 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 15 départements, most often Paris.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
40 people named Smeets live in Switzerland.
They live in 7 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In the Nordic population registers
20 people named Smeets is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Smeets in American newspapers,
1897–1961.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 5,995 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Smeets,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Lucian Smeets 1890– · stamp forger -
Josef Smeets 1893–1925 · politician -
Mathieu Smeets 1896–1984 · economist -
Felix Smeets 1904–1961 · association football player -
Lou Smeets 1916–1987 · landscape architect
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 114 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Smeets.
- Sliwinski 1,223 · U.S. census
- Sloma 512 · U.S. census
- Slowik 1,477 · U.S. census
- Slowinski 913 · U.S. census
- Smail 9,097 · U.S. census
- Smaniotto 129 · U.S. census
- Smet 680 · U.S. census
- Smets 168 · U.S. census
- Smigielski 536 · U.S. census
- Smirnoff 188 · U.S. census
- Smit 3,164 · U.S. census
- Smith 2,442,977 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Smeets is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.