Explore the Family Name Thau

The meaning of Thau

Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name from German Tau ‘dew’, or possibly from the Hebrew letter tau, from a personal name beginning with this letter. Some characteristic forenames: Jewish Dovid, Ephraim, Iren.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Thau experienced a slight decrease in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, Thau was ranked 43,629th in terms of prevalence, but by 2010 it had slipped to 46,568th, representing a 6.74% drop. The census also reported a minor reduction in the count of individuals bearing the Thau surname, with numbers slipping from 466 in 2000 to 457 in 2010, marking a decrease of 1.93%. Furthermore, the proportion of people named Thau per 100,000 population also fell from 0.17 to 0.15, a decline of 11.76%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#43,629	#46,568	-6.74%
Count	466	457	-1.93%
Proportion per 100k	0.17	0.15	-11.76%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Thau

The ethnicity of people bearing the Thau surname has also seen some changes over the same period, according to the Decennial U.S. Census data. While the majority of Thaus identified as White in both 2000 and 2010, this percentage saw a small decrease from 89.06% to 81.84%. Meanwhile, the percentage identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander increased significantly from 8.37% to 12.91%. Notably, the census began recording Thaus of Hispanic ethnicity and Black ethnic identity in 2010, documenting proportions of 3.06% and 1.75% respectively. However, the category of 'Two or more races' dropped to zero in 2010 from 1.07% in 2000, and no Thaus reported themselves as American Indian and Alaskan Native in either census year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	89.06%	81.84%	-8.11%
Asian/Pacific Islander	8.37%	12.91%	54.24%
Hispanic	0%	3.06%	0%
Black	0%	1.75%	0%
Two or More Races	1.07%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%