The Chea surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 4,492 people carried this name — #7,411 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 65,800 people counted. That is up 32% from 3,404 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Chea surname
From Khmer ជា (ciə), in turn borrowed from Hokkien 謝／谢 (Chiā) or Teochew 謝／谢 (zia7).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Chea» (English), 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 152 people named Chea.
Most of them — 141 — were born outside France. Those born in France came from 10 départements, most often Rhône.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
30 people named Chea live in Switzerland.
They live in 5 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Lucerne.
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 print
Chea in American newspapers,
1914–1954.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 83,276 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Chea,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Carmen Damaris Chea Cedeño 1940– · agronomist -
Chea Lav 2003– · badminton player
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 5 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Chea.
- Chave 245 · U.S. census
- Chavel 113 · U.S. census
- Chaves 8,137 · U.S. census
- Chavey 126 · U.S. census
- Chavin 116 · U.S. census
- Chay 1,212 · U.S. census
- Checa 263 · U.S. census
- Checchi 251 · U.S. census
- Cheli 222 · U.S. census
- Chelli 132 · U.S. census
- Chemin 120 · U.S. census
- Chen 169,580 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Chea 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.