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    The surname Grau

    A German place surname, carried by 5,365 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex G600

    Grau: #6,353 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Grau #6,353, 5,365 people Grau: #6,353 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Grau #6,353, 5,365 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Grau is more common than 96.1% of them.

    Origin

    German origin

    * 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”).

    Grau is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

    One of 1,101 German surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 5,365 people named Grau in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 57,548 Americans. That is up 5.2% since 2000, when the Census counted 5,099.

    #6,353
    rank among US surnames
    5,365
    people in 2010
    1.8
    per 100,000 Americans
    +5.2%
    change since 2000 (was #6,186)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #6,344Carino5,37357,462
    #6,345Cage5,37257,473
    #6,346Harness5,37157,484
    #6,349Casiano5,36957,505
    #6,350Studer5,36857,516
    #6,351Carruthers5,36757,527
    #6,352Brewington5,36657,537

    Who is named Grau

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

    72% of people named Grau identified as white (not Hispanic), 15% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 9.9% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • White (not Hispanic) 72%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 15%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 9.9%
    • Two or more races 1.4%
    • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.3%

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Graus

    5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • 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, born 2004

    Notable Graus come mostly from the United States (3), Argentina (1) and Spain (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Grau

    Grau has the Soundex code G600, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code G600.

    Other German surnames

    All 1,101 German surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Grau come from?
    * 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…
    How common is the surname Grau?
    5,365 people in the United States had the surname Grau in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 57,548 Americans. It ranked 6,353rd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Grau?
    In the 2010 Census, 72% of people named Grau identified as white (not Hispanic), and 15% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Grau?
    Shirley Ann Grau, American writer (1929–2020), followed by Roberto Grau.
    Where is the surname Grau most common?
    Wikidata records people named Grau in the United States, Argentina and Spain.
    What type of surname is Grau?
    Grau is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Grau getting more or less common?
    More common. 5,099 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 5,365 in 2010, up 5.2%.