# Woo (surname)

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

A surname from Chinese.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chinese |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 13,003 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,775 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 23,744 people |
| Change since 2000 | +12% (11,628 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Wu, Ou, Wo |

## Etymology

From an irregular romanization of various Mandarin Chinese surnames including 吳／吴 (Wú), 伍 (Wǔ), 武 (Wǔ), and 巫 (Wū), or from Cantonese 胡 (wu4).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Woo 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) | 4.7% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.4% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 87% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 4.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Woo in the Empire of Japan.

## People named Woo

- Woo Jang-choon, agricultural scientist, botanist (1898-1959)

## Similar surnames

Wu, Way, Wei, Wah, Wee, Wai.

## 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.