Smith is incredibly the most statistically significant surname in North America.
A common myth is that immigrants' names were difficult to spell and pronounce so they often would say "Smith" when asked their family name -- in order to avoid problems. This is merely a myth, however.
Most significant is the fact that smithery or smithing eventually covered many fields of income earning connected to and beyond that of smithing metal. Many professions emerged that were related to this, including blacksmithing (shoeing of horses).
