Explore the Family Name Suen

The meaning of Suen

Chinese: 1. Cantonese form of the surname 孫, see Sun 1. 2. Cantonese form of the surname 宣 see Xuan. Some characteristic forenames: Chinese Fan, Kai Ming, Kam, Kin, Wai, Wing, Ching-Yun, Fong, Kan, Kin Wing, Kong, Kwok Leung.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Suen saw a slight decrease in rank from 2000 to 2010, moving from 22,174th most common to 22,646th. Despite this dip in ranking, the actual number of individuals with the Suen surname increased by roughly 4.23%, from 1,087 to 1,133 people. However, when considering the proportion of Suens per 100,000 people, there was a minor decrease of 5% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#22,174	#22,646	-2.13%
Count	1,087	1,133	4.23%
Proportion per 100k	0.4	0.38	-5%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Suen

The Decennial U.S. Census also provides insights into the ethnic identity associated with the surname Suen. In 2000, the majority of Suens were of Asian/Pacific Islander descent (90.25%) and this percentage slightly increased to 91.44% by 2010. The representation of Suens identifying as two or more races decreased substantially, from 3.04% to 2.38%. Similarly, those identifying as white dropped from 4.42% to 3.62%. Meanwhile, the Hispanic identity amongst Suens grew significantly by 40%, albeit from a low base of 1.20%. Interestingly, no Suens identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in 2010, where previously these groups had represented 0.55% each of the Suen population in 2000.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	90.25%	91.44%	1.32%
White	4.42%	3.62%	-18.1%
Two or More Races	3.04%	2.38%	-21.71%
Hispanic	1.2%	1.68%	40%
Black	0.55%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.55%	0%	0%