How common is the surname Woo?

13,003 people in the United States had the surname Woo in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,744 Americans. It ranked 2,775th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Woo?

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

Where is the surname Woo most common?

Wikidata records people named Woo in the Empire of Japan.

Is the surname Woo getting more or less common?

More common. 11,628 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,003 in 2010, up 12%.

The surname Woo

A Chinese surname, carried by 13,003 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex W000

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Woo is more common than 98.3% of them.

Origin

Chinese origin

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).

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 13,003 people named Woo in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 23,744 Americans. That is up 12% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,628.

#2,775

rank among US surnames

13,003

people in 2010

4.4

per 100,000 Americans

+11.8%

change since 2000 (was #2,824)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#2,766	Croft	13,047	23,664
#2,767	Baltazar	13,045	23,668
#2,768	Salisbury	13,038	23,680
#2,769	Easter	13,036	23,684
#2,770	Burden	13,028	23,699
#2,772	Salvador	13,021	23,711
#2,773	Schell	13,016	23,720

Who is named Woo

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

87% of people named Woo identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 4.8% as two or more races and 4.7% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 87%
Two or more races 4.8%
White (not Hispanic) 4.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.2%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.1%

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

Famous Woos

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

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

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Woo has the Soundex code W000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code W000.

Other Chinese surnames

All 193 Chinese surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Woo come from?: 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).
How common is the surname Woo?: 13,003 people in the United States had the surname Woo in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 23,744 Americans. It ranked 2,775th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Woo?: In the 2010 Census, 87% of people named Woo identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 4.8% as two or more races.
Who is the most famous person named Woo?: Woo Jang-choon, agricultural scientist, botanist (1898-1959).
Where is the surname Woo most common?: Wikidata records people named Woo in the Empire of Japan.
Is the surname Woo getting more or less common?: More common. 11,628 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 13,003 in 2010, up 12%.
What are other spellings of Woo?: Wu, Ou and Wo.