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    The surname Rao

    A place surname, carried by 11,672 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex R000

    Rao: #3,075 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Rao #3,075, 11,672 people Rao: #3,075 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Rao #3,075, 11,672 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Rao is more common than 98.1% of them.

    Origin

    * As an Italian surname, reduced from Radulfo. See Rolf, Ralph, Raul, etc. * As an Indian surname, from Marathi राव (rāv), Gujarati રાવ (rāv), Telugu రావు (rāvu), etc.; all ultimately from Sanskrit राजन् (rājan, “king”). * As a Chinese surname, from the place name 饒 /饶 (ráo). More at Rao.

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

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 11,672 people named Rao in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 26,452 Americans. That is up 39% since 2000, when the Census counted 8,423.

    #3,075
    rank among US surnames
    11,672
    people in 2010
    4.0
    per 100,000 Americans
    +38.6%
    change since 2000 (was #3,872)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #3,066Havens11,69926,391
    #3,067Brice11,69726,395
    #3,068Finnegan11,69526,400
    #3,069Soares11,69426,402
    #3,070Godoy11,69026,411
    #3,071Carl11,68926,413
    #3,072Hildebrand11,68726,418

    Who is named Rao

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

    79% of people named Rao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 17% as white (not Hispanic) and 2.9% as two or more races.

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 79%
    • White (not Hispanic) 17%
    • Two or more races 2.9%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.1%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%
    • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

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

    Famous Raos

    2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Dileep Rao
      American actor, born 1973
    • Gitanjali Rao
      American inventor, born 2005

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Rao

    Rao has the Soundex code R000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code R000.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Rao come from?
    * As an Italian surname, reduced from Radulfo. See Rolf, Ralph, Raul, etc. * As an Indian surname, from Marathi राव (rāv), Gujarati રાવ (rāv), Telugu రావు (rāvu), etc.; all ultimately from Sanskrit राजन् (rājan, “king”). * As a Chinese surname, from the place name 饒 /饶 (ráo). More at Rao.
    How common is the surname Rao?
    11,672 people in the United States had the surname Rao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 26,452 Americans. It ranked 3,075th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Rao?
    In the 2010 Census, 79% of people named Rao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 17% as white (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Rao?
    Dileep Rao, American actor, followed by Gitanjali Rao.
    Where is the surname Rao most common?
    Wikidata records people named Rao in the United States.
    What type of surname is Rao?
    Rao is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
    Is the surname Rao getting more or less common?
    More common. 8,423 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 11,672 in 2010, up 39%.