# Chow (surname)

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

A surname from Cantonese.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chinese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 17,059 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,122 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 18,099 people |
| Change since 2000 | +9.0% (15,650 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /t͡ʃaʊ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Cantonese 周 (zau¹).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Chow 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) | 3.5% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 87% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.0% |
| Two or more races | 4.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Chow in the United Kingdom and the United States.

## People named Chow

- Tim Chow, British association football player (born 1994)
- Tina Chow, American model and fashion icon (1950-1992)

## Similar surnames

Choi, Cho, Chao, Chou, Chew, Choe, Choy, Choo, Co, Chu, Cao, Coe.

## 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.