How common is the surname Chao?

10,398 people in the United States had the surname Chao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 29,693 Americans. It ranked 3,432nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Chao?

Elaine Chao, 18th United States Secretary of Transportation and 24th United States Secretary of Labor, followed by Rosalind Chao.

Where is the surname Chao most common?

Wikidata records people named Chao in the United States.

How do you pronounce Chao?

Chao is /t͡ʃaʊ/, one syllable.

Is the surname Chao getting more or less common?

More common. 8,633 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 10,398 in 2010, up 20%.

Is Chao also a first name?

Yes. Chao is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Chao

A Chinese surname, carried by 10,398 people in the United States.

Pronounced /t͡ʃaʊ/ 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). Chao is more common than 97.9% of them.

Origin

Chinese origin

From Mandarin 趙／赵 (Zhào), Wade–Giles romanization: Chao⁴.

One of 193 Chinese surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 10,398 people named Chao in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 29,693 Americans. That is up 20% since 2000, when the Census counted 8,633.

#3,432

rank among US surnames

10,398

people in 2010

3.5

per 100,000 Americans

+20.4%

change since 2000 (was #3,769)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,423	Conde	10,430	29,602
#3,424	Monson	10,425	29,616
#3,425	Vieira	10,420	29,630
#3,427	Griswold	10,417	29,639
#3,428	Gaskins	10,414	29,647
#3,429	McClanahan	10,407	29,667
#3,430	Seward	10,399	29,690

Who is named Chao

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

87% of people named Chao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 6.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 3.7% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 87%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 6.4%
White (not Hispanic) 3.7%
Two or more races 3.0%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

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

Famous Chaos

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Elaine Chao
18th United States Secretary of Transportation and 24th United States Secretary of Labor, born 1953
Rosalind Chao
American actress, born 1957

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Zhao

Surnames that sound like Chao

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

Other Chinese surnames

All 193 Chinese surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Chao come from?: From Mandarin 趙／赵 (Zhào), Wade–Giles romanization: Chao⁴.
How common is the surname Chao?: 10,398 people in the United States had the surname Chao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 29,693 Americans. It ranked 3,432nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Chao?: In the 2010 Census, 87% of people named Chao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 6.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
Who is the most famous person named Chao?: Elaine Chao, 18th United States Secretary of Transportation and 24th United States Secretary of Labor, followed by Rosalind Chao.
Where is the surname Chao most common?: Wikidata records people named Chao in the United States.
How do you pronounce Chao?: Chao is /t͡ʃaʊ/, one syllable.
Is the surname Chao getting more or less common?: More common. 8,633 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 10,398 in 2010, up 20%.
What are other spellings of Chao?: Zhao.
Is Chao also a first name?: Yes. Chao is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.