Chau
UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Chau has been given to 496 babies in the U.S. since 1975. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1980, with 22 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 78% girls, 22% boys all-time.
Babies named Chau, 2022
1 in 484,000
Chau over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Chau over time
In 2022, Chau went to 100% girls and 0% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Chau?
Chau had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2022, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 2022
- 1 in 484,000
- 7 of 3,385,755 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 234,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 2022
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 335,262 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Chau sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2022 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 335,262 children born in 2022 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Chau. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Chaus were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Chau was born before 1990 — so the typical Chau is around 35 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1980s
- 40.6% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 30.1%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 389
- People you could plausibly meet
1980s — 40.6% of all recorded uses (158).
Is Chau rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1980 (22)
- Years since peak
- 45
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 39.5% average annual change
Spellings of Chau
Chau is not the most common spelling — Chaya is, with 21.4% against Chau's 0.53%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Where Chau is used — girls
Across 1910–2025, Chau was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 300,997 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in 100,000
- 2Texas1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Chau has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Where Chau is used — boys
Across 1910–2025, Chau was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 3,486,540 across all states with data.
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Chau has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Chau around the world
Where Chau ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.
- England & Wales2025–2025#5,927in 2025
- Canada1992–2001#2,611in 2001
- South Australia1984–2012#871in 2012
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Chau by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Chau
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Chau
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.