How common is the surname Liao?

8,482 people in the United States had the surname Liao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 36,400 Americans. It ranked 4,177th of 162,253 surnames.

Is the surname Liao getting more or less common?

More common. 5,771 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 8,482 in 2010, up 47%.

The surname Liao

A Chinese surname, carried by 8,482 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ljaʊ/ 2 syllables Soundex L000

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Liao is more common than 97.4% of them.

Origin

Chinese origin

Borrowed from Mandarin 廖 (Liào).

One of 193 Chinese surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 8,482 people named Liao in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 36,400 Americans. That is up 47% since 2000, when the Census counted 5,771.

#4,177

rank among US surnames

8,482

people in 2010

2.9

per 100,000 Americans

+47%

change since 2000 (was #5,534)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#4,168	Hargis	8,503	36,310
#4,169	Siddiqui	8,502	36,314
#4,171	Paine	8,501	36,319
#4,172	Barboza	8,497	36,336
#4,173	Dayton	8,494	36,349
#4,175	Louie	8,485	36,387
#4,176	Candelaria	8,483	36,396

Who is named Liao

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

96% of people named Liao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 1.7% as two or more races and 1.6% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 96%
Two or more races 1.7%
White (not Hispanic) 1.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 0.7%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Black, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Liao

Liao has the Soundex code L000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L000.

Other Chinese surnames

All 193 Chinese surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Liao come from?: Borrowed from Mandarin 廖 (Liào).
How common is the surname Liao?: 8,482 people in the United States had the surname Liao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 36,400 Americans. It ranked 4,177th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Liao?: In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Liao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 1.7% as two or more races.
How do you pronounce Liao?: Liao is /ljaʊ/, 2 syllables.
Is the surname Liao getting more or less common?: More common. 5,771 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 8,482 in 2010, up 47%.