# Shum (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/shum/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chinese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 2,222 |
| US rank (2010) | 13,627 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 138,949 people |
| Change since 2000 | +9.7% (2,025 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Cantonese 岑 (sam4) or Cantonese 沈 (sam2), when the initial was still [ɕ] during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shum 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) | 14% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.8% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 81% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.0% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shum in Costa Rica.

## People named Shum

- Harry Shum Jr., American actor and dancer (born 1982)

## Similar surnames

Shim, Shomo, Sham, Shami, Shumway, Sum, Saum, Schumm, Sweeney, Snow, Sheehan, Swain.

## 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.