How rare is the name Chau?

8,189 people in the United States have the first name Chau, about 1 in 36,883. It ranks #2,826 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

CHAU

#2,826

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
8,189
About
1 in 36,883
This common or more
81%
Who bears it

Of the 8,189 people named Chau, 98.4% reported their origin as Asian or Pacific Islander. 66.9% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Chau peaked in 1982, when 35 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19752022
Peak year
1982
Births that year
35
In 2022
7 ▼80%
Recorded as
mostly female

At least 496 babies have been given the name since 1975. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero.

Chau by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1980s, when it ranked #5,751. The largest share of babies named Chau, 60.3%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1970s#12,16148
1980s#5,751233
1990s#12,571105
2000s#20,84765
2010s#28,79733
2020s#31,42512
Generation X 1965–8014.1%
Millennials 1981–9660.3%
Generation Z 1997–1219.6%
2013 and later6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Exactly as common as Chau

1 other first name also has 8,189 people.

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Chau, most common first.

Also a last name

As a last name, Chau ranks #1,977 of 156,621, with 17,795 people. See Chau as a last name

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