Find out how popular the last name Chiu is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Chiu.

Chiu, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Chiu surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Chiu in America

Chiu is the 2735th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Chiu surname appeared 13,174 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Chiu.

We can also compare 2010 data for Chiu to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Chiu

The surname CHIU has its origins in China, tracing back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). It is a romanized spelling of the Chinese characters 邱, which were originally pronounced as "Qiu" in Mandarin. This name is thought to have derived from an old Chinese word meaning "hill" or "mound", indicating that the earliest bearers of this surname may have lived near or on a hill.

The CHIU surname is particularly prevalent in the southern regions of China, such as Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan provinces. It is also found in significant numbers among Chinese communities in Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, owing to historical migration patterns.

One of the earliest records of the CHIU surname can be found in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) genealogical records, where it is listed among the prestigious families of the time. However, there are no known references to this name in ancient texts like the Domesday Book or other medieval European manuscripts.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the CHIU surname was Qiu Cun (1508-1594), a renowned Confucian scholar and philosopher during the Ming Dynasty. Another notable figure was Qiu Fengjia (1864-1912), a prominent military leader and revolutionary who played a significant role in the Xinhai Revolution that overthrew the Qing Dynasty.

In more recent history, Qiu Qingquan (1919-2022) was a celebrated Chinese mathematician and educator, known for his contributions to the field of partial differential equations. Qiu Xiaolong (born 1953) is a contemporary Chinese-American author, best known for his Inspector Chen crime novel series set in Shanghai.

Qiu Jin (1875-1907), also known as the "Chinese Joan of Arc", was a pioneering feminist and revolutionary who fought for women's rights and played a crucial role in the Xinhai Revolution. She was executed by the Qing government for her activism.

It is important to note that while the CHIU surname has a long and rich history in China, it is not as widely documented in Western historical records due to the geographical and cultural barriers that existed between East and West in earlier times.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Chiu

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Chiu.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Chiu was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Chiu has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Chiu was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Chiu, please contact us.

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