Chou
Chou is a name with a single cultural origin: Japanese.
- Japanese
Meaning & Origin of Chou
What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.
Chou is a name with a single cultural origin: Japanese.
Origin data from Behind the Name .
Cultural Origins (via Behind the Name)
- Japanese
The Story of Chou
The earliest SSA record of Chou as a baby boy name dates back to 1981, when 6 babies received it. 1989 was its biggest year on record, with 9 newborns named Chou — #5,165 in the national rankings. About 52% of every Chou on record arrived during the 1980s, its defining decade. Chou last appeared in the published SSA data in 1996, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 60 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1980s to the 2020s.
Popularity Over Time
Popularity by State
Variants & Related Forms of Chou
Foreign forms, alternate spellings, and nicknames that share roots with Chou. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
- Cho
- Chō
Names that sound like Chou
Phonetically similar names — useful when Chou is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
Source: Datamuse . Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated.
Frequently Asked Questions about Chou
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About the name Chou
Chou is a boy baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1981 and has accumulated 60 births in the dataset. Chou's peak popularity came in 1989 when it ranked #5,165. Use the chart and map above to compare Chou's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.
Continue exploring
- Top names of 1989 →
- Names of the 1980s →
- Names starting with "C" →
- Browse all boy names →
- Top names of 2026 →
Data sources
- Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. Social Security Administration . Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships.
- Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — Behind the Name (used under their public API terms).
- Meaning prose and editorial summary — Wikipedia article extracts, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .
- Predicted nationality distribution — Nationalize.io .
- Phonetically similar names — Datamuse .
Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.