How common is the surname Du?

7,566 people in the United States had the surname Du in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 40,807 Americans. It ranked 4,690th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Du?

Du Shi, 1st century engineer, metallurgist and politician, followed by Du Wei.

Where is the surname Du most common?

Wikidata records people named Du in China, the People's Republic of China and Australia and 1 other country.

Is the surname Du getting more or less common?

More common. 4,670 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,566 in 2010, up 62%.

The surname Du

A Chinese surname, carried by 7,566 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex D000

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Du is more common than 97.1% of them.

Origin

Chinese origin

A surname from Chinese

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 7,566 people named Du in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 40,807 Americans. That is up 62% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,670.

#4,690

rank among US surnames

7,566

people in 2010

2.6

per 100,000 Americans

+62%

change since 2000 (was #6,669)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#4,683	Valente	7,580	40,732
#4,684	Stidham	7,579	40,737
#4,685	Saxon	7,576	40,753
#4,686	Bethel	7,573	40,769
#4,687	Pearl	7,570	40,785
#4,688	Timmerman	7,569	40,791
#4,689	Lemieux	7,567	40,802

Who is named Du

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

95% of people named Du identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 2.8% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 95%
White (not Hispanic) 2.8%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 0.9%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.8%
Two or more races 0.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

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

Famous Dus

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Du Shi
1st century engineer, metallurgist and politician, -50–38
Du Wei
Ambassador of China to Israel, Ambassador of China to Ukraine, 1962–2020
Kenneth To
Australian swimmer (1992–2019)
Chapman To
A well-known actor from Hong Kong who later moved to Taiwan and obtained Taiwanese citizen, born 1972

Notable Dus come mostly from China (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 Du

Du has the Soundex code D000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code D000.

Other Chinese surnames

All 193 Chinese surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Du come from?: Du is Chinese in origin.
How common is the surname Du?: 7,566 people in the United States had the surname Du in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 40,807 Americans. It ranked 4,690th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Du?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Du identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 2.8% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Du?: Du Shi, 1st century engineer, metallurgist and politician, followed by Du Wei.
Where is the surname Du most common?: Wikidata records people named Du in China, the People's Republic of China and Australia and 1 other country.
Is the surname Du getting more or less common?: More common. 4,670 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,566 in 2010, up 62%.