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Name Lineage

    The surname Shum

    A Chinese surname, carried by 2,222 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex S500

    Shum: #13,627 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Shum #13,627, 2,222 people Shum: #13,627 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Shum #13,627, 2,222 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Shum is more common than 91.6% of them.

    Origin

    Chinese origin

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

    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 2,222 people named Shum in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 138,949 Americans. That is up 9.7% since 2000, when the Census counted 2,025.

    #13,627
    rank among US surnames
    2,222
    people in 2010
    0.8
    per 100,000 Americans
    +9.7%
    change since 2000 (was #13,724)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #13,622Wilmer2,224138,824
    #13,625Gauvin2,223138,887
    #13,627Shum2,222138,949

    Who is named Shum

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

    81% of people named Shum identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 14% as white (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as two or more races.

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 81%
    • White (not Hispanic) 14%
    • Two or more races 2.6%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.8%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.4%

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

    Famous Shums

    1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

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

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Shum

    Shum has the Soundex code S500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S500.

    Other Chinese surnames

    All 193 Chinese surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Shum come from?
    Borrowed from Cantonese 岑 (sam4) or Cantonese 沈 (sam2), when the initial was still [ɕ] during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
    How common is the surname Shum?
    2,222 people in the United States had the surname Shum in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 138,949 Americans. It ranked 13,627th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Shum?
    In the 2010 Census, 81% of people named Shum identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 14% as white (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Shum?
    Harry Shum Jr., American actor and dancer (born 1982).
    Where is the surname Shum most common?
    Wikidata records people named Shum in Costa Rica.
    Is the surname Shum getting more or less common?
    More common. 2,025 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 2,222 in 2010, up 9.7%.