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Name Lineage

    The surname Zhou

    A surname, carried by 23,437 people in the United States.

    Pronounced /d͡ʒoʊ/ 1 syllable Soundex Z000

    Zhou: #1,532 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Zhou #1,532, 23,437 people Zhou: #1,532 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Zhou #1,532, 23,437 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Zhou is more common than 99.1% of them.

    Origin

    From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 周 (Zhōu). Doublet of Chau.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 23,437 people named Zhou in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 13,173 Americans. That is up 102% since 2000, when the Census counted 11,586.

    #1,532
    rank among US surnames
    23,437
    people in 2010
    8.0
    per 100,000 Americans
    +102.3%
    change since 2000 (was #2,839)
    RankSurnamePeople1 in
    #1,523Pritchard23,54913,111
    #1,524Masters23,53313,120
    #1,525Gunn23,52413,125
    #1,526Jeffries23,51013,133
    #1,527Dooley23,48113,149
    #1,528Pagan23,47413,153
    #1,529McGhee23,46113,160

    Who is named Zhou

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

    98% of people named Zhou identified as Asian and Pacific Islander.

    • Asian and Pacific Islander 98%
    • White (not Hispanic) 1.0%
    • Two or more races 0.5%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 0.2%
    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 Zhous

    5 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Zhou Enlai
      1st Premier of the People's Republic of China, 1898–1976
    • Zhou Mi
      Badminton player, born 1979
    • Vincent Zhou
      American figure skater, born 2000
    • Zhou Fang
      3rd century Eastern Wu general and official, 200–230
    • Chau Hoi Wah
      Badminton player, born 1986

    Notable Zhous come mostly from the People's Republic of China (3), the United States (1) and Eastern Wu (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    Surnames that sound like Zhou

    Zhou has the Soundex code Z000, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code Z000.

    Questions

    Where does the surname Zhou come from?
    From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 周 (Zhōu). Doublet of Chau.
    How common is the surname Zhou?
    23,437 people in the United States had the surname Zhou in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,173 Americans. It ranked 1,532nd of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Zhou?
    In the 2010 Census, 98% of people named Zhou identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 1.0% as white (not Hispanic).
    Who is the most famous person named Zhou?
    Zhou Enlai, 1st Premier of the People's Republic of China, followed by Zhou Mi.
    Where is the surname Zhou most common?
    Wikidata records people named Zhou in the People's Republic of China, the United States and Eastern Wu.
    How do you pronounce Zhou?
    Zhou is /d͡ʒoʊ/, one syllable.
    Is the surname Zhou getting more or less common?
    More common. 11,586 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 23,437 in 2010, up 102%.
    What are other spellings of Zhou?
    Chou, Chow, Tchou, Chau, Jou and Jhou.