# Chau (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/chau/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 16,667 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,181 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 18,524 people |
| Change since 2000 | +26% (13,238 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /tʃaʊ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Cantonese 周 (zau¹) or Vietnamese Châu (from the same ultimate origin). Doublet of Zhou.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Chau in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 1.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.9% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 94% |
| Two or more races | 1.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Chau in the United States, the People's Republic of China, Australia and Belgium.

## People named Chau

- John Allen Chau, American missionary (1991–2018)
- Chau Hoi Wah, badminton player
- Matthew Chau, badminton player
- Frederik Du Chau, Belgian film director and screenwriter

## Similar surnames

Chu, Chiu, Chao, Chou, Cha, Chea, Chua, Chai, Chae, Chia, Chui, Chay.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.