London, Mar 24: While Smith and Jones remain Britain's most popular surnames, new research has found that there are 1,48,498 residents in the country who carry the surname Patel or Singh, suggesting that Asian names are rapidly catching up.

The study claims that a century of immigration has seen the nation's dictionary of names drastically altered.

The Chinese name Zhang was found to be the fastest growing name, having risen by 4,718 per cent in popularity in just 13 years.

People named Singh and Patel were also found to be at a record high, with 95,203 and 53,295 of them respectively currently living in Britain, reports The Telegraph.

The study was carried out partly by Experian, the credit agency, which used its database to find out which names were found most frequently in different parts of the country.

Despite a more mobile population in recent decades, the researchers found that many of the more traditional British surnames were still found clustered in specific parts of the country.

Professor Richard Webber, from King's College London, who led the research, said: "Surnames are useful indicators of people's origins.

The results of the research can be found at the new website, www.mapyourname.com, which lets people trace where their surnames originate from.

ANI