Explore the Family Name Tou

The meaning of Tou

1. Chinese: variant of Dou. 2. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 杜, possibly based on its Cantonese pronunciation, see Du 1. 3. Norwegian: habitational name from the farm name Tau in Rogaland, of unexplained etymology.

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

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

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Tou has seen a rise in popularity between 2000 and 2010. Its rank increased from 72,237 to 63,873 during this period, indicating an increase of about 11.58%. Similarly, the count of individuals with the surname Tou also increased by 24.3%, going from 251 to 312 persons. Furthermore, the proportion per 100,000 people having this surname saw a rise of 22.22% from 0.09 to 0.11.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#72,237	#63,873	11.58%
Count	251	312	24.3%
Proportion per 100k	0.09	0.11	22.22%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Tou

Regarding the ethnic identity associated with the surname Tou, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows that the majority of individuals with this surname identify as Asian/Pacific Islander. From 2000 to 2010, the percentage of Tou's identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander increased slightly by 2.02% to 78.85%. Those identifying as White decreased by 14.51% leaving 10.90% in 2010, while those identifying as Hispanic saw a rise of 16.16% to 4.17%. There was a significant decrease of 34.25% in those identifying as two or more races, falling to 2.88%. The data for those identifying as Black was suppressed for privacy in 2010, and there were no individuals who identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	77.29%	78.85%	2.02%
White	12.75%	10.9%	-14.51%
Hispanic	3.59%	4.17%	16.16%
Two or More Races	4.38%	2.88%	-34.25%
Black	1.99%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%