# Lau (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/lau/  
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 Chinese.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chinese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 29,792 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,187 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 10,363 people |
| Change since 2000 | +16% (25,624 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /laʊ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Cantonese 劉／刘 (lau4), Hokkien 劉／刘 (Lâu) or Teochew 劉／刘 (lao5). Doublet of Liu and Luu.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Lau 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) | 16% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.5% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 76% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 3.9% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Lau in the United States.

## People named Lau

- Wesley Lau, American actor (1921-1984)

## Similar surnames

Law, Lai, Lay, La, Lao, Laue, Lee, Li, Le, Lowe, Liu, Lu.

## 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.