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Name Lineage

    The surname Chau

    A surname, carried by 16,667 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /tʃaʊ/ 1 syllable Soundex C000

    Chau: #2,181 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Chau #2,181, 16,667 people Chau: #2,181 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Chau #2,181, 16,667 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Chau is more common than 98.7% of them.

    Origin

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

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 16,667 people named Chau in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 18,524 Americans. That is up 26% since 2000, when the Census counted 13,238.

    #2,181
    rank among US surnames
    16,667
    people in 2010
    5.7
    per 100,000 Americans
    +25.9%
    change since 2000 (was #2,498)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #2,172Burnette16,71718,469
    #2,173Maguire16,71318,473
    #2,174Doran16,70418,483
    #2,175Calloway16,68918,500
    #2,177Purvis16,68618,503
    #2,179Acuna16,68318,507
    #2,180Ulrich16,66818,523

    Who is named Chau

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

    94% of people named Chau identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 1.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.8% as two or more races.

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 94%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.9%
    • Two or more races 1.8%
    • White (not Hispanic) 1.6%
    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 Chaus

    4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • John Allen Chau
      American missionary (1991–2018)
    • Chau Hoi Wah
      Badminton player, born 1986
    • Matthew Chau
      Badminton player, born 1994
    • Frederik Du Chau
      Belgian film director and screenwriter, born 1965

    Notable Chaus come mostly from the United States (1), the People's Republic of China (1) and Australia (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Chau

    Chau 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 Chau come from?
    From Cantonese 周 (zau¹) or Vietnamese Châu (from the same ultimate origin). Doublet of Zhou.
    How common is the surname Chau?
    16,667 people in the United States had the surname Chau in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 18,524 Americans. It ranked 2,181st of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Chau?
    In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Chau identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 1.9% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Chau?
    John Allen Chau, American missionary (1991–2018), followed by Chau Hoi Wah.
    Where is the surname Chau most common?
    Wikidata records people named Chau in the United States, the People's Republic of China and Australia and 1 other country.
    How do you pronounce Chau?
    Chau is /tʃaʊ/, one syllable.
    Is the surname Chau getting more or less common?
    More common. 13,238 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 16,667 in 2010, up 26%.