@writersroom.boardwalkKim and Lee in Kazakhstan, Kim and Ri up in North Korea, Kim and Karimov in Uzbekistan. Same three letters doing a lot of work across one continent. That pattern only shows up once you lay the whole thing side by side, which is what this list does: the top surnames for 50 Asian countries plus Russia, two per country where there's a second one worth naming. Start in the west. Afghanistan runs Muhammadi and Ahmadi. Armenia gives you Grigoryan and Harutyunyan. Azerbaijan has Mammadov and Aliyev. Georgia comes in with Beridze and Kapanadze. Cyprus only needs one entry, Georgiou. Then the Gulf and the Levant. Bahrain: Ali and Hasan. Kuwait: Ali and Mohammed. Iraq: Mohamed and Ali. Jordan: Allah and Mohammad. Lebanon: El Din and Khoury. Israel: Cohen and Levi. Syria: Khaled and Ali. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan all land on the same pair, Khan and Ali. Yemen repeats Mohamed and Ali. Oman goes Al Balushi and Al Hinai. The UAE has Ali and Hassan. South and Central Asia next. India: Devi and Singh. Bangladesh gets a single name, Akter. Nepal: Caudhari and Sresth. Sri Lanka: Perera and Fernando. Maldives: Mohamed and Ibrahim. Kyrgyzstan: Ismailova and Abdullaeva. Tajikistan: Sharipov and Karimov. Turkmenistan: Mamedova and Ahmedova. East and Southeast Asia. China: Wang and Li. Japan: Sato and Suzuki. Taiwan: Chen and Lin. South Korea: Kim and Lee. Mongolia: Ganbold and Batbayar. Myanmar: Maung and Aung. Thailand: Saetang and Saelim. Vietnam: Nguyen and Tran. Cambodia: Sok and Chea. Laos: Inthavong and Phommasone. Malaysia and Singapore both list Tan and Lim. Indonesia: Sari and Setiawan. Philippines: Dela Cruz and Garcia. Timor-Leste: Soares and da Costa. Brunei: Haji and Abdullah. Bhutan closes out with Dorji and Wangchuk. Russia, tacked onto the end of the list, is Ivanova and Ivanov. Fifty countries, two names apiece, and somehow Ali keeps turning up.

@writersroom.boardwalkKim and Lee in Kazakhstan, Kim and Ri up in North Korea, Kim and Karimov in Uzbekistan. Same three letters doing a lot of work across one continent. That pattern only shows up once you lay the whole thing side by side, which is what this list does: the top surnames for 50 Asian countries plus Russia, two per country where there's a second one worth naming. Start in the west. Afghanistan runs Muhammadi and Ahmadi. Armenia gives you Grigoryan and Harutyunyan. Azerbaijan has Mammadov and Aliyev. Georgia comes in with Beridze and Kapanadze. Cyprus only needs one entry, Georgiou. Then the Gulf and the Levant. Bahrain: Ali and Hasan. Kuwait: Ali and Mohammed. Iraq: Mohamed and Ali. Jordan: Allah and Mohammad. Lebanon: El Din and Khoury. Israel: Cohen and Levi. Syria: Khaled and Ali. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan all land on the same pair, Khan and Ali. Yemen repeats Mohamed and Ali. Oman goes Al Balushi and Al Hinai. The UAE has Ali and Hassan. South and Central Asia next. India: Devi and Singh. Bangladesh gets a single name, Akter. Nepal: Caudhari and Sresth. Sri Lanka: Perera and Fernando. Maldives: Mohamed and Ibrahim. Kyrgyzstan: Ismailova and Abdullaeva. Tajikistan: Sharipov and Karimov. Turkmenistan: Mamedova and Ahmedova. East and Southeast Asia. China: Wang and Li. Japan: Sato and Suzuki. Taiwan: Chen and Lin. South Korea: Kim and Lee. Mongolia: Ganbold and Batbayar. Myanmar: Maung and Aung. Thailand: Saetang and Saelim. Vietnam: Nguyen and Tran. Cambodia: Sok and Chea. Laos: Inthavong and Phommasone. Malaysia and Singapore both list Tan and Lim. Indonesia: Sari and Setiawan. Philippines: Dela Cruz and Garcia. Timor-Leste: Soares and da Costa. Brunei: Haji and Abdullah. Bhutan closes out with Dorji and Wangchuk. Russia, tacked onto the end of the list, is Ivanova and Ivanov. Fifty countries, two names apiece, and somehow Ali keeps turning up.