How common is the surname Chou?

9,834 people in the United States had the surname Chou in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 31,396 Americans. It ranked 3,610th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Chou?

Tracy Chou, American software engineer, followed by Linda Chou.

Where is the surname Chou most common?

Wikidata records people named Chou in the United States.

Is the surname Chou getting more or less common?

More common. 7,885 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,834 in 2010, up 25%.

The surname Chou

A surname, carried by 9,834 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). Chou is more common than 97.8% of them.

Origin

From Mandarin 周 (Zhōu), Wade–Giles romanization: Chou¹.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 9,834 people named Chou in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 31,396 Americans. That is up 25% since 2000, when the Census counted 7,885.

#3,610

rank among US surnames

9,834

people in 2010

3.3

per 100,000 Americans

+24.7%

change since 2000 (was #4,163)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#3,601	Thiel	9,880	31,250
#3,602	Agnew	9,856	31,326
#3,603	Aceves	9,854	31,332
#3,604	Jay	9,852	31,338
#3,605	McCarter	9,849	31,348
#3,606	Lebron	9,843	31,367
#3,607	Schott	9,842	31,370

Who is named Chou

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

94% of people named Chou identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 2.4% as two or more races and 2.1% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 94%
Two or more races 2.4%
White (not Hispanic) 2.1%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 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 Chous

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Tracy Chou
American software engineer, born 1987
Linda Chou
American musician, born 1983

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Chou

Chou 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 Chou come from?: From Mandarin 周 (Zhōu), Wade–Giles romanization: Chou¹.
How common is the surname Chou?: 9,834 people in the United States had the surname Chou in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 31,396 Americans. It ranked 3,610th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Chou?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Chou identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 2.4% as two or more races.
Who is the most famous person named Chou?: Tracy Chou, American software engineer, followed by Linda Chou.
Where is the surname Chou most common?: Wikidata records people named Chou in the United States.
Is the surname Chou getting more or less common?: More common. 7,885 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 9,834 in 2010, up 25%.
What are other spellings of Chou?: Zhou and Chow.