# Gau (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/gau/  
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 | German |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,367 |
| US rank (2010) | 19,703 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 225,856 people |
| Change since 2000 | +18% (1,158 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Two main origins: * Borrowed from German Gau, a habitational surname. * A variant of Gao, a surname of Chinese origin.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Gau 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) | 77% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 18% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Similar surnames

Gay, Gao, Guay, Gaw, Guy, Gee, Guo, Gu, Go, Gioia, Ge, Gow.

## 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.