Rao () is a Chinese family name. It can also be spelled as "Yow" or "Yaw". The surname Rao is approximately 2200 years old, and originated in the area near present-day Linfen county in Shanxi province. It is the 181st most common name being shared by around 730,000 people or 0.055% of the population with the province with the most people being Jiangxi. It is on the ''Hundred Family Surnames'' poem.

Notable people

* Jao Tsung-I (1917–2018), Hong Kong Chinese calligrapher * Ngeow Sze Chan (1915–2002), Malaysian practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine * Rao Ching-ling (born 1969), magistrate of Taitung County * Rao Shushi (1903–1975), senior member of the Chinese Communist Party * Rao Yi (born 1962 in Jiangxi), neuroscientist * Rao Yutai (1891–1968), physicist * Yaw Shin Leong (born 1976), Singaporean politician * Nyu Kok Meng, Malaysian and convicted robber who committed armed robbery in Singapore. Individual Chinese surnames

References

{{surname, Rao Chinese-language surnames