The Chowdhury surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 11,961 people carried this name — #2,997 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 24,700 people counted. That is up 107% from 5,765 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Chowdhury surname
Borrowed from Bengali চৌধুরি (cōudhuri).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Chowdhury» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
177 people named Chowdhury live in Switzerland.
They live in 10 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere 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 Belgium’s population register
At least 89 people named Chowdhury live in Belgium.
Statbel only publishes a name in a municipality when five or more people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Brussels-Capital.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Statbel (Statistics Belgium), family names of the population by municipality, 1 January 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 21 people named Chowdhury.
Most of them — 16 — were born outside France. Those born in France came from 2 départements, most often Paris.
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 the Nordic population registers
817 people named Chowdhury are counted in Sweden and Finland.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published. Finland counts its citizens, at home or abroad.
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) · Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland, surname statistics, August 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In print
Chowdhury in American newspapers,
1908–1915.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 34 pages in all carry the name.
In print
Chowdhury in Australian newspapers,
1900s–1990s.
73 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Chowdhury. The most, 25, date from the 1970s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in the Australian Capital Territory, at 2.0 times its expected share.
Articles, by state
Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Chowdhury.
Who carried it
People named Chowdhury,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury 1863–1929 · politician -
Ramadevi Choudhury 1899–1985 · writer -
Bhabendramohan Ray Chaudhury 1902–1984 · composer -
Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury 1906–1966 · writer -
Rashid Ahmed Chowdhury 1919–1954 · writer
Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped — Bhabendramohan Ray Chaudhury: Joybhoba, CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0); the others are in the public domain or CC0 · 164 lives in all are documented under this name.
In the public record
People named Chowdhury,
in the records of 3 countries.
Soldiers, farmers, migrants and neighbours who carried the name and left a trace in public archives. Everyone shown here died long ago or was born more than a century ago.
United States3 records
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Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Kaelas O. ChowdhuryBorn 1876 in India. Registered as a foreign national in Chicago, Illinois, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) -
Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Idris ChowdhuryBorn 1902 in India. Registered as a foreign national in Montclair, New Jersey, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) -
Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Nirad R. ChowdhuryBorn 1894 in India. Registered as a foreign national in Los Angeles, California, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain)
Counts: U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Alien Registration Receipt Card, Form AR-3, photo by Bobjgalindo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
France3 records
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Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Nita ChowdhuryBorn 1952 in India; died 2000 in Lille (Nord).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte) -
Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Sultana Eayesmen ChowdhuryBorn 1981 in Village-Sona Phar (Bangladesh); died 2000 in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
Showing 2 of 3 records for Chowdhury in France.
Counts: Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Death register of Nice, 1930, Archives départementales des Alpes-Maritimes (public domain).
Australia1 record
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Example: burial register, 1858 Burial record Abul Bashar Mohammad ChowdhuryDied 1993; buried at Gungahlin Cemetery, Canberra, ACT.
ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0)
Counts: ACT Government, Transport Canberra and City Services (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Burial register of Newtown, Montgomeryshire, 1858, National Library of Wales (CC0).
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Chowdhury.
- Choplin 419 · U.S. census
- Choppin 130 · U.S. census
- Choque 212 · U.S. census
- Chou 9,834 · U.S. census
- Chouteau 223 · U.S. census
- Chow 17,059 · U.S. census
- Choy 5,254 · U.S. census
- Chretien 1,432 · U.S. census
- Chrisman 6,647 · U.S. census
- Christ 7,261 · U.S. census
- Christal 417 · U.S. census
- Christe 245 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Chowdhury 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.