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Name Lineage

    The surname Yao

    A Chinese surname, carried by 7,192 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex Y000

    Yao: #4,898 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Yao #4,898, 7,192 people Yao: #4,898 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Yao #4,898, 7,192 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Yao is more common than 97% of them.

    Origin

    Chinese origin

    From various romanizations of the Mandarin and Hokkien pronunciations of Chinese 姚 (Yáo/Iâu). Doublet of Yiu.

    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 7,192 people named Yao in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 42,929 Americans. That is up 57% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,592.

    #4,898
    rank among US surnames
    7,192
    people in 2010
    2.4
    per 100,000 Americans
    +56.6%
    change since 2000 (was #6,765)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #4,889Amezcua7,20642,846
    #4,890Rutter7,20542,852
    #4,891Lavigne7,20442,858
    #4,892Schlosser7,20342,863
    #4,893Ivory7,20142,875
    #4,894Lundgren7,19842,893
    #4,896Laplante7,19542,911

    Who is named Yao

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

    93% of people named Yao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 2.5% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as white (not Hispanic).

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 93%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 2.5%
    • White (not Hispanic) 2.1%
    • Two or more races 2.0%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Hispanic, Native American are not shown.

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

    Famous Yaos

    1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Yao Defen
      (1972-2012) former tallest living woman

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Surnames that sound like Yao

    Yao has the Soundex code Y000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code Y000.

    Other Chinese surnames

    All 193 Chinese surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Yao come from?
    From various romanizations of the Mandarin and Hokkien pronunciations of Chinese 姚 (Yáo/Iâu). Doublet of Yiu.
    How common is the surname Yao?
    7,192 people in the United States had the surname Yao in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 42,929 Americans. It ranked 4,898th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Yao?
    In the 2010 Census, 93% of people named Yao identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 2.5% as Black (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Yao?
    Yao Defen, (1972-2012) former tallest living woman.
    Where is the surname Yao most common?
    Wikidata records people named Yao in the People's Republic of China.
    Is the surname Yao getting more or less common?
    More common. 4,592 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,192 in 2010, up 57%.