Just for kicks, I wanted to determine the most common last name in the United States that has never had a player with that name in major league baseball.
As you might suspect, the top ones are names that have become popular through immigration in the past half century. The top four names on the list are Nguyen, Patel, Tran, and Singh. Names a few spots down the list also include Li, Chan, Liu, Le, Wu, and Khan. I'm sure we'll get ballplayers with those names in the majors in the next half century, but probably not quite yet.
So, at the risk of being politically incorrect, I am going to limit this to names that are not indicative of recent immigration trends—that is, names that are European.
Can you guess what's the most common European-based name that has never appeared on the rolls of major league baseball? I am not counting negro leagues, because the top name on this list does have two negro leaguers with the name.
While you're noodling this, here's a fun fact: the seventh-most common European last name not represented in big league baseball had been, before this season, Keith.