Explore the Family Name Chhum

The meaning of Chhum

Cambodian: written ឆុំ, probably a variant of ជុំ (see Chum 1).

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Chhum in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Chhum has seen a notable increase. In 2000, it was ranked 73,659, making it relatively uncommon, but by 2010, it leaped upwards to rank 60,045. This is an impressive jump of 18.48% over the ten-year period. The total count of individuals bearing this surname also rose from 245 in 2000 to 336 in 2010, marking a significant growth of 37.14%. The proportion per 100,000 people with this name increased by 22.22%, going from 0.09 to 0.11 between 2000 and 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#73,659	#60,045	18.48%
Count	245	336	37.14%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.11	22.22%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Chhum

Regarding ethnicity, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with the surname Chhum identify as Asian/Pacific Islander. This group represented 92.65% of the total in 2000 and slightly increased to 93.75% in 2010, showing a modest change of 1.19%. However, the proportion identifying with two or more ethnicities dropped significantly, from 5.71% in 2000 to 3.27% in 2010, which suggests a decrease in multi-ethnic identity among those with this surname. Interestingly, while there were no reported instances of individuals with the Chhum surname identifying as White in 2000, by 2010, 2.68% of Chhums did so. There were no reported changes for Hispanic, Black, or American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities within this surname group during this time period.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	92.65%	93.75%	1.19%
Two or More Races	5.71%	3.27%	-42.73%
White	0%	2.68%	0%
Hispanic	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%