# Tow (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/tow/  
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 | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,910 |
| US rank (2010) | 15,355 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 161,647 people |
| Change since 2000 | +0.9% (1,893 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, variant of Tough, from the adjective tough. Also compare the Scottish surname Tulloch. * As a Chinese surname, converged from several Romanizations, such as 陶 (Dao), 曹 (cáo) (Cao), 杜 (dù) (Du), 蘇 /苏 (sū) (Su).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Tow 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) | 79% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 14% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.1% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Similar surnames

To, Toy, Toe, Towe, Towey, Thao, Thai, Tu, Ta, Tew, Tai, Tao.

## 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.