# Hou (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/hou/  
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 Mandarin.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chinese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 4,500 |
| US rank (2010) | 7,395 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 68,610 people |
| Change since 2000 | +52% (2,958 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Chinese 侯 (Hóu).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Hou 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) | 3.0% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 95% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Hou in France.

## People named Hou

- Hou Hanru, art critic, curator, art director of MAXXI

## Similar surnames

Ho, Hough, Hoy, Hoh, Hoe, Howe, Hu, Hay, Ha, He, Huey, Hua.

## 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.