Explore the Family Name Liew

The meaning of Liew

1. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 劉, 柳 and 留, see Liu 1–3. This form of the surname is found mainly in Malaysia. 2. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 廖, see Liao. 3. Vietnamese: variant of Lieu. Some characteristic forenames: Chinese Chee, Seng, Hon, Wing, Chien, Chin, Chun, Kah, Kam, Khee, Kwang, Kwong, Bae, Chong, Dae, Jin Sook, Seong, Weng. Vietnamese Hung, Khiem, Kien, Lam, Tin.

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

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

The surname Liew has been growing in popularity according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. In 2000, Liew was the 33,782nd most common name, but by 2010 it had jumped up the ranks to become the 24,572nd most popular surname, marking a substantial increase of 27.26%. The count of individuals with this surname also rose considerably from 636 in 2000 to 1017 in 2010, signifying a growth rate of nearly 60%. Consequently, the proportion of Liews per 100k people also increased by 41.67% during this decade.

20002010Change
Rank#33,782#24,57227.26%
Count6361,01759.91%
Proportion per 100k0.240.3441.67%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Liew

Regarding its ethnic identity, based on the Decennial U.S. Census information, the vast majority of Liews identify as Asian/Pacific Islander, making up over 93% of the population with this surname in both 2000 and 2010. Although there was a slight decrease of 0.49% in this group over the decade, it remains the predominant ethnicity. Interestingly, the percentage of Liews identifying as White saw an increase of 28.57%, moving from 2.52% in 2000 to 3.24% in 2010. Similarly, there was a small emergence of Liews identifying as Black in 2010, which was not observed in 2000. The proportions of those identifying as Hispanic or American Indian and Alaskan Native remained at zero for both census years.

20002010Change
Asian/Pacific Islander93.87%93.41%-0.49%
White2.52%3.24%28.57%
Two or More Races2.99%2.26%-24.41%
Black0%0.59%0%
Hispanic0%0%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0%0%