The Smits surname
In the 2000 U.S. Census, 2,284 people carried this name — #12,466 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 117,600 people counted.
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In Belgium’s population register
At least 3,291 people named Smits 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 Antwerp.
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 169 people named Smits.
55 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 21 départements, most often Nord.
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
84 people named Smits live in Switzerland.
They live in 11 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 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In print
Smits in American newspapers,
1892–1963.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 85,480 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Smits,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Jacob Smits 1688–1749 · mayor -
Dirk Smits 1702–1752 · poet -
William Smits 1704–1770 · biblical scholar -
Jean Baptiste Smits 1792–1857 · politician -
Johannes Cornelis Jacobus Smits 1812–1887 · military personnel
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 260 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Smits.
- Smet 638 · U.S. census
- Smets 166 · U.S. census
- Smigielski 538 · U.S. census
- Smirnoff 163 · U.S. census
- Smit 3,058 · U.S. census
- Smith 2,376,206 · U.S. census
- Smolarek 278 · U.S. census
- Smolen 1,543 · U.S. census
- Smolinski 2,135 · U.S. census
- So 6,227 · U.S. census
- Soares 9,633 · U.S. census
- Soave 527 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Smits 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.