Yau is a surname. It is a romanisation of multiple surnames in Hong Kong as well as other Cantonese speaking regions, based on different

varieties of Chinese Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...

, as well as a surname in other cultures. Among respondents to the

2000 United States Census The United States census of 2000, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2 percent over the 248,709,873 people enumerated during the 1990 ce ...

, Yau was the 394th-most common surname among

Asian Pacific American Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian a ...

s, and 10,881th-most common overall, with 2,686 bearers (93.9% of whom identified as Asian/Pacific Islander).

Cantonese romanisation of 丘

Shing-Tung Yau Shing-Tung Yau (; ; born April 4, 1949) is a Chinese-American mathematician and the William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University. In April 2022, Yau announced retirement from Harvard to become Chair Professor of mathem ...

(; born 1949), Chinese-born American mathematician *

Stephen Shing-Toung Yau Stephen Shing-Toung Yau (; born 1952) is a Chinese-American mathematician. He is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and currently teaches at Tsinghua University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electri ...

(; born 1952), Hong Kong-born American mathematician, brother of Shing-Tung Yau *

Alan Yau Alan Yau (), Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 11 November 1962) is a Hong Kong restaurateur who founded the Wagamama chain in the United Kingdom. Of Hakka people, Hakka ancestry, he was born in Sha Tau Kok, Hong Kong and moved to King's Ly ...

(; born 1962), Hong Kong-born British restaurateur *

Yau Kin Wai Yau Kin Wai (, born 4 January 1973 in Hong Kong) is a former Hong Kong professional football player. Club career Yau had played for Hong Kong First Division League club South China for more than 10 years and is regarded as one of the most deco ...

(; born 1973), Hong Kong football defender

Cantonese romanisation of 邱

* Yau Leung (; 1941–1997), Hong Kong street photographer *

Yau Lop Poon L. P. Yau (Yau Lop Poon邱立本, aka Qiu liben, born in Hong Kong in 1950) is a veteran journalist, who worked in Taiwan, the United States and Hong Kong for the last 40 years, and was selected by the netizens in China as one of the Top 100 Public ...

(; born 1950), Hong Kong journalist *

Edward Yau Edward Yau Tang-wah, GBS, JP (; born 28 April 1960, Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong politician. He was the Secretary for the Environment from 2007 to 2012, and from 2012 to 2017, he was the Director of the Chief Executive's Office of Hong Kong. H ...

(; born 1960), Hong Kong government official *

Herman Yau Herman Yau Lai-to (; born 13 July 1961) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. Filmography * 1987: ''Tragic Hero'' – Co-Cinematographer * 1987: ''No Regret (1987 film), No Regret'' – Director * ...

(; born 1961), Hong Kong film director *

Chingmy Yau Chingmy Yau Suk-zing (born 16 May 1968) is a retired Hong Kong actress. Background She entered the Hong Kong film industry after competing secondary school in the 1987 Miss Hong Kong Beauty Pageant. She was one of the leading actresses in the ...

(; born 1968), Hong Kong actress *

Benny Yau Benny Yau (Traditional Chinese: 邱穟恆), born 8 May 1980 is a Canadian television presenter, singer, and actor known for hosting '' What's On'' on Fairchild TV, and as the lead singer of the band The WestCoast Players. Career Yau entered a ...

(; born 1980), Hong Kong-born Canadian television presenter * Johnny Yau (), Hong Kong television businessman * Yung Yau (), Hong Kong housing studies professor * Stanley Yau (), member of Hong Kong boy band

MIRROR A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

* Tiger Yau (), member of Hong Kong boy band

* Vivian Yau (),British Chinese activist

Cantonese romanisation of 尤

Yau Lit Yau Lit (; 1864 – 12 December 1936), born Yau Kwai-bok (尢季博), courtesy name Tui-hau (推孝) or Ling-kwai (令季), or Euclid Yau, was a Chinese revolutionary from Shunde District, Shuntak, Guangdong, Kwangtung. He is one of the Four Band ...

(; 1864–1936), Chinese revolutionary *

Carrie Yau :''This is a Hong Kong name; Tsang is the maiden name and Yau is the married name.'' Carrie Yau Tsang Kar-lai (; ' Tsang; born 4 June 1955) is a former Hong Kong government official. She was graduated from the University of Hong Kong and Somer ...

(; born 1955), Hong Kong government official

Cantonese romanisation of 游

* King-Wai Yau (; born 1948), Chinese-born American neuroscientist *

Patrick Yau Patrick Yau Tat-Chi is a Hong Kong film director and assistant director best known for making independent films for Milkyway Image, the production company owned by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai. Career Yau joined TVB when he was 21 and became Johnni ...

(; born 1964), Hong Kong film director *

Yau Nai-hoi Yau Nai-hoi () is a Hong Kong screenwriter and director. He is best known as a frequent screenwriter for films produced by the independent Hong Kong production company Milkyway Image, notably films directed by Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai. Yau ...

(; born 1968), Hong Kong screenwriter *

Yau Kam Leung Yau Kam Leung (, born 26 April 1985, in Hong Kong) is a professional football player who played in the Hong Kong First Division League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league sy ...

(; born 1985), Hong Kong football defender * Neo Yau (; born 1990), Hong Kong actor *

Yau Wai-ching Regine Yau Wai-ching (; born 6 May 1991) is a Hong Kong former politician and former member of the localist group Youngspiration. She was elected to the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as a member for Kowloon West in the 2016 Legislative ...

(; born 1991), Hong Kong politician

Mandarin romanisation of 姚

Yau is the spelling in

Gwoyeu Romatzyh Gwoyeu Romatzyh (), abbreviated GR, is a system for writing Mandarin Chinese in the Latin alphabet. The system was conceived by Yuen Ren Chao and developed by a group of linguists including Chao and Lin Yutang from 1925 to 1926. Chao himself lat ...

(a less common-system of transcribing

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

) of the surname spelled Yào in the more widespread

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

system. *

Horng-Tzer Yau Horng-Tzer Yau (; born 1959 in Taiwan) is a Taiwanese-American mathematician. He received his B.Sc. in 1981 from National Taiwan University and his Ph.D. in 1987 from Princeton University. Yau joined the faculty of NYU in 1988, and became a full ...

(; born 1959), Taiwanese-born American mathematician *

John Yau John Yau (born June 5, 1950) is an American poet and critic who lives in New York City. He received his B.A. from Bard College in 1972 and his M.F.A. from Brooklyn College in 1978. He has published over 50 books of poetry, artists' books, fiction ...

(born 1950), American poet of Chinese descent

Other

People with a non-Chinese surname Yau, or whose names as written in Chinese characters are not available: *

Sahabi Alhaji Yaú Sahabi Alhaji Yaú (born 16 July 1956) is a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator in 2007 on the platform of All Nigeria Peoples Party to represent Zamfara North district of Zamfara State. Sunana YuSif Sahabi daga karamar hukumar Dandume u ...

(born 1956), Nigerian politician *

Yairo Yau Yairo Armando Glaize Yau (born 7 September 1989) is a Panamanian footballer who currently plays as a winger for Quiché FC in Guatemala Career Early career In 2009, at the age of 19, Yau began his senior career at Panamanian club Alianza be ...

(born 1989), Panamanian footballer * Stephen Sik-Sang Yau, American computer scientist *

David Yau Yau David Yau Yau was a Governor of Boma State and the Chief Administrator of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area of South Sudan. He was previously the leader of a Murle insurrection against the South Sudanese government. Early life and education ...

, South Sudanese government administrator and former insurrectionist leader

References

{{surname Chinese-language surnames Multiple Chinese surnames