Explore the Family Name Qiao

The meaning of Qiao

Chinese: 1. Mandarin form of the surname 喬: (i) adopted in place of another homophonous Chinese surname Qiao (橋, which means ‘bridge’) during the Later Zhou dynasty (951–60 AD). (ii) a surname of the nobles of the Huns during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC–25 AD). 2. Mandarin form of the surname 譙, meaning ‘watchtower’ in Chinese: (i) from the placename Qiao (譙), the name of a fief (located in Anhui province) granted to Sheng, a grandson of King Wen of Zhou (1152–1056 BC). (ii) said to be borne by the descendants of the Duke Ling of Xu (ruler of the state of Xu, died 547 BC).

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the popularity of the surname Qiao has significantly increased between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Qiao was ranked 54,269 in popularity with a count of 356, or 0.13 per 100,000 people. However, by 2010, the rank had jumped to 28,380, with a substantial rise in count to 841, making it 0.29 per 100,000 people. This shows an impressive growth rate of 47.7% in the surname's popularity over this decade.

20002010Change
Rank#54,269#28,38047.7%
Count356841136.24%
Proportion per 100k0.130.29123.08%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Qiao

The ethnicity data from the Decennial U.S. Census reveals that the vast majority of individuals with the surname Qiao identify as Asian/Pacific Islander. In both 2000 and 2010, over 98% of those with this surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, with a slight increase of 0.03% over the decade. Interestingly, in 2010, 1.19% of individuals with the surname Qiao identified as White, a change not recorded in the 2000 census. Those identifying as Hispanic, Black, American Indian, and Alaskan Native remained at zero across both years, while the percentage of those identifying with two or more ethnicities was also recorded as zero.

20002010Change
Asian/Pacific Islander98.31%98.34%0.03%
White0%1.19%0%
Two or More Races0%0%0%
Hispanic0%0%0%
Black0%0%0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native0%0%0%