# Sum (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/sum/  
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 | Polish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,482 |
| US rank (2010) | 18,596 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 208,330 people |
| Change since 2000 | -20.5% (1,864 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a Chinese surname: ** a pronunciation of 沈, see Shen. ** Also Romanized from 岑 (cén) based on the Cantonese pronunciation, see Cen. ** Variant Romanization of 覃, see Tan, Qin. * As a Cambodian/Khmer surname, from the name ស៊ុំ (sum), possibly from the Chinese above. * As a Slovene and Czech surname Šum, from šum (“noise”) or šum (“waterfall”), compare Shum. * As a Jewish surname, from Polish sum (“catfish”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Sum 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% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 7.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 73% |
| Two or more races | 2.0% |

## Similar surnames

Summey, Summa, Saum, Sun, Shumway, Shum, Schumm, Sweeney, Snow, Sheehan, Swain, Swan.

## 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.