# Grau (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/grau/  
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) | 5,365 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,353 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 57,548 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.2% (5,099 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a German surname, borrowed from German Grau, a nickname for someone with grey hair or beard. * As a Catalan and southern French surname, from Occitan and Catalan Grau, a topographic surname from grau (“degree, level”). * Also as a Catalan surname, reduced from the personal name Guerau; see Gerald. * As a French surname, from Old French grau (“kind of fork”), from Frankish/Germanic, probably related to Old Norse grein (“fork, branch”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Grau 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) | 72% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 15% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.3% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Grau in the United States, Argentina and Spain.

## People named Grau

- Shirley Ann Grau, American writer (1929–2020)
- Roberto Grau, Argentine chess player (1900–1944)
- Doris Grau, American script supervisor (1924–1995)
- Eulàlia Grau, artist (born 1946)
- Matt Ox, American rapper

## Similar surnames

Gray, Gora, Gera, Guerra, Gore, Gary, Garay, Grey, Geary, Geer, Geyer, Gower.

## 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.