How common is the surname Cao?

18,138 people in the United States had the surname Cao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,022 Americans. It ranked 1,989th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Cao?

In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Cao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

Who is the most famous person named Cao?

Cao Buxing, 3rd century Eastern Wu artist, followed by Cao Teng.

Where is the surname Cao most common?

Wikidata records people named Cao in Eastern Wu, Cao Wei and the United States.

Is the surname Cao getting more or less common?

More common. 11,106 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,138 in 2010, up 63%.

The surname Cao

A surname, carried by 18,138 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex C000

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Cao is more common than 98.8% of them.

Origin

From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin 曹 (Cáo).

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 18,138 people named Cao in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 17,022 Americans. That is up 63% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,106.

#1,989

rank among US surnames

18,138

people in 2010

6.2

per 100,000 Americans

+63.3%

change since 2000 (was #2,986)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,980	Dill	18,215	16,950
#1,981	Humphries	18,201	16,963
#1,982	Youngblood	18,197	16,967
#1,983	Capps	18,194	16,970
#1,984	Cates	18,190	16,973
#1,985	Covarrubias	18,189	16,974
#1,986	Addison	18,169	16,993

Who is named Cao

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

95% of people named Cao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.4% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 95%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
White (not Hispanic) 1.4%
Two or more races 1.1%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Famous Caos

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Cao Buxing
3rd century Eastern Wu artist
Cao Teng
2nd century Eastern Han dynasty eunuch official, 100–159
Hung Cao
American politician and Navy veteran (born 1971)

Notable Caos come mostly from Eastern Wu (1), Cao Wei (1) and the United States (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Cao

Cao has the Soundex code C000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C000.

Questions

Where does the surname Cao come from?: From the pinyin romanization of Mandarin 曹 (Cáo).
How common is the surname Cao?: 18,138 people in the United States had the surname Cao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 17,022 Americans. It ranked 1,989th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Cao?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Cao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Cao?: Cao Buxing, 3rd century Eastern Wu artist, followed by Cao Teng.
Where is the surname Cao most common?: Wikidata records people named Cao in Eastern Wu, Cao Wei and the United States.
Is the surname Cao getting more or less common?: More common. 11,106 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 18,138 in 2010, up 63%.