Ref Surname

1,300,225th
Most Common
surname in the World

Approximately 174 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:
Indonesia
Highest density in:
Israel

Ref Surname

The meaning of this surname is not listed.

Ref Surname Distribution Map

PlaceIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Indonesia871:1,520,106102,006
Israel241:356,56829,419
Afghanistan141:2,296,65615,575
Ukraine91:5,058,077228,455
Canada71:5,263,656239,735
India71:109,580,769786,157
Pakistan71:25,520,55584,222
Argentina61:7,123,902190,047
Malaysia51:5,898,845196,803
France41:16,605,680368,153
Germany21:40,252,730481,636
Algeria11:38,631,551130,422
Russia11:144,123,056881,408

Ref (372) may also be a first name.

Ref Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Ref Come From? nationality or country of origin

Ref (Marathi: रोॅफ़, Russian: Реф) is found most frequently in Indonesia. It may also be found as a variant:. For other possible spellings of this surname click here.

How Common Is The Last Name Ref? popularity and diffusion

Ref is the 1,300,225th most commonly used surname world-wide, borne by around 1 in 41,882,448 people. This last name occurs mostly in Asia, where 83 percent of Ref live; 53 percent live in Southeast Asia and 53 percent live in Malayo-Arabic Southeast Asia. Ref is also the 450,135th most widespread first name throughout the world. It is borne by 372 people.

It is most numerous in Indonesia, where it is carried by 87 people, or 1 in 1,520,106. In Indonesia it is most prevalent in: Central Kalimantan, where 48 percent reside, West Sumatra, where 46 percent reside and Riau, where 6 percent reside. Apart from Indonesia Ref is found in 12 countries. It is also found in Israel, where 14 percent reside and Afghanistan, where 8 percent reside.

Phonetically Similar Names

SurnameSimilarityWorldwide IncidencePrevalency
Reif8618,431/
Rief864,005/
Reef861,772/
Refe861,221/
Reff861,193/
Rejf86175/
Reft86134/
Reyf86131/
Href8638/
Reuf8621/
Reaf8615/
Rzef869/
Refs863/
Rhef863/
Refz862/
Redf862/
Rewf862/
Retf861/
Resf861/
Revf861/
Reiff759,923/
Rieff75852/
Reifs75389/
Reefe75221/
Reuff75154/
Reeff75138/
Reyff75124/
Reffs7596/
Reffe7581/
Reift7553/
Reefs7552/
Reife7550/
Reafs7517/
Reyfe758/
Hreef755/
Reafe753/
Reeft752/
Reefh752/
Rheef751/
Reyjf751/
Reyfs751/
Rhief751/
Rejff751/
Refch751/
Hrief751/
Reisf751/
Readf751/
Reasf751/
Redfe751/
Reehf751/
Rievf751/
Rgeef751/
Reaff750/
Riefh750/
Hreft750/
Rehef750/
Rew673,170/
Rif672,782/
Ryf671,594/
Reb671,150/
Rev67310/
Reiffs6768/
Reiffe6749/
Räf6744/
Refova6733/
Rheuff6716/
Rjf6711/
Refsås673/
Reeyfs672/
Reheef672/
Refftt671/
Rohief671/
Reeffe670/

Ref Name Transliterations

TransliterationICU LatinPercentage of Incidence
Ref in the Marathi language
रोॅफ़roefa-
Ref in the Russian language
Рефref-

Search for Another Surname

The name statistics are still in development, sign up for information on more maps and data

By signing up to the mailing list you will only receive emails specifically about name reference on Forebears and your information will not be distributed to 3rd parties.

Footnotes

  • Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Ref
  • To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on Family​Search, My​Heritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis