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

Khieu, 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 Khieu surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Khieu in America

Khieu is the 68770th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Khieu surname appeared 286 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Khieu.

We can also compare 2010 data for Khieu 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 Khieu

The surname KHIEU is believed to have originated in Cambodia, where it is a common family name. The name is thought to have derived from the Khmer language, with its roots tracing back to the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia from the 9th to the 15th centuries.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the inscriptions of the Angkor Wat temple complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the largest religious monuments in the world. The inscriptions, dating back to the 12th century, mention individuals with the surname KHIEU serving as officials and advisors to the Khmer kings.

During the Angkor period, the KHIEU name was closely associated with the region around the present-day Siem Reap province, where the Angkor Wat temple is located. It is believed that many families with the KHIEU surname originated from this area, which was a cultural and political center of the Khmer Empire.

As the Khmer Empire expanded its influence across Southeast Asia, the KHIEU name spread to other regions, including what is now Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. In these areas, the name may have been adapted or spelled slightly differently due to linguistic variations and local dialects.

One notable figure with the KHIEU surname was Khieu Samphan, a Cambodian politician and former head of state during the Khmer Rouge regime. Khieu Samphan (born 1931) served as the President of the State Presidium of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 to 1979 and was later convicted of crimes against humanity by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.

Another prominent individual with the KHIEU surname was Khieu Kanharith (1948-2022), a Cambodian politician and social activist who served as the Minister of Information and later as the President of the Cambodian Institute for Democracy.

In the realm of literature, Khieu Samnang (born 1979) is a notable Cambodian poet and author, known for his works exploring themes of identity, memory, and the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime.

The KHIEU surname has also been carried by notable artists and cultural figures, such as Khieu Samnang (born 1982), a contemporary Cambodian artist whose works have been exhibited internationally, and Khieu Chum (1941-1996), a renowned Cambodian film director and screenwriter who made significant contributions to the Golden Age of Cambodian cinema in the 1960s and 1970s.

While the KHIEU surname has its roots in Cambodia, it has since spread worldwide through migration and diaspora communities, with families carrying this name now found in various countries across Asia, Europe, and North America.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Khieu

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

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 Khieu 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 Khieu 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 Khieu was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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