Explore the Family Name Palau

The meaning of Palau

Catalan: from palau ‘palace, mansion’ (see Palacio). Compare Palao. Some characteristic forenames: Spanish Julio, Jose, Luis, Guillermo, Gustavo, Manuel, Aida, Alejandro, Armando, Arturo, Augustina, Beatriz.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Palau has seen a significant increase in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, the surname was ranked 39,756 in terms of popularity and had a count of 520. By 2010, the rank had improved to 31,211, which is a positive change of 21.49%. The count also increased by 42.88% to reach 743. Further, the proportion of people with the Palau surname per 100k also saw an increment of 31.58%, rising from 0.19 in 2000 to 0.25 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#39,756	#31,211	21.49%
Count	520	743	42.88%
Proportion per 100k	0.19	0.25	31.58%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Palau

The ethnic identity associated with the surname Palau also underwent changes between 2000 and 2010. The Decennial U.S. Census data shows that in 2000, 66.15% of the bearers of this surname identified as Hispanic, and this increased by 7.42% to reach 71.06% by 2010. Those identifying as White decreased from 25.19% to 19.25%, a decline of 23.58%. The Asian/Pacific Islander category saw a minor decrease of 4.01%, dropping from 6.73% to 6.46%. Finally, the number of individuals identifying with two or more races increased substantially from 1.73% to 2.69%, a rise of 55.49%. The categories of Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native remained unchanged, having no reported bearers of the surname Palau during these years.

	2000	2010	Change
Hispanic	66.15%	71.06%	7.42%
White	25.19%	19.25%	-23.58%
Asian/Pacific Islander	6.73%	6.46%	-4.01%
Two or More Races	1.73%	2.69%	55.49%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%