The Cau surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 148 people carried this name — #117,480 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 2,000,000 people counted. That is down 2% from 151 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Cau surname
A surname from Occitan.
Borrowed from Occitan. Historically most prevalent in Ariège.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Cau» (French), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 1,126 people named Cau.
115 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 60 départements, most often Ariège.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 172 people named Cau live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
39 people named Cau live in Switzerland.
They live in 6 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Ticino.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In the Nordic population registers
29 people named Cau is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Cau in American newspapers,
1895–1899.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 1,318,739 pages in all carry the name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Cau.
- Cattani 476 · U.S. census
- Cattin 126 · U.S. census
- Catto 319 · U.S. census
- Catton 719 · U.S. census
- Cattoor 175 · U.S. census
- Catuogno 128 · U.S. census
- Cauchi 284 · U.S. census
- Cauchon 244 · U.S. census
- Caudron 103 · U.S. census
- Caudy 210 · U.S. census
- Causin 165 · U.S. census
- Cauvel 186 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Cau is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.