The Liao surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 8,482 people carried this name — #4,177 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 34,700 people counted. That is up 47% from 5,771 in 2000.
Where the name comes from
The origin of the Liao surname
Borrowed from Mandarin 廖 (Liào).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Liao» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 147 people named Liao 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 City of Buenos Aires.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where 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
77 people named Liao live in Switzerland.
They live in 7 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.
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 France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 23 people named Liao.
Most of them — 16 — were born outside France. Those born in France came from 4 départements, most often French Polynesia.
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
165 people named Liao 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
Liao in American newspapers,
1904.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.
In print
Liao in Australian newspapers,
1850s–1980s.
311 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Liao. The most, 43, date from the 1910s. New South Wales has the most articles, but weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, the name stands out most in the Australian Capital Territory, at 2.4 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 Liao.
Who carried it
People named Liao,
with a public archive behind them.
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Liao Ji d. 1532 · politician
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Liao Rong d. 986 · poet
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Liao Hua d. 264
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Liao Hua d. 264
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Liao Youqing d. 832
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Liao Sheng d. 1402
Wikidata (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
In the public record
People named Liao,
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 States24 records
- U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 22
- New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 1
- New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 1
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Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Tai Chu LiaoBorn 1910 in Canton, China. Entered the United States at San Francisco in 1947. Listed in the U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) -
Example: U.S. death certificate, 1910 Death record Fan LiaoDied 1929 in Manhattan, New York, aged 43.
NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) -
Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s Alien registration Ding K. LiaoBorn 1920 in China. Registered as a foreign national in Washington, District Of Columbia, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940.
U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain)
Showing 3 of 24 records for Liao in the United States.
Counts: U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · NYC Department of Records & Information Services, Historical Vital Records (NYC Open Data) · New York State Department of Health, Genealogical Research Death Index. 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); Certificate of death, Oregon State Board of Health, 1910, Oregon State Archives (public domain).
Canada4 records
- Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver 3
- City of Winnipeg cemetery records 1
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Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record Steven Keng LiaoDied 1992, aged 80; buried at St. Vital Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. -
Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record Carl LiaoBuried in 1954 at Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia.
City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. -
Example: Canadian cemetery Burial record Chin LiaoDied 1920; buried at Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia.
City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver.
Showing 3 of 4 records for Liao in Canada.
Counts: City of Vancouver. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Vancouver. · City of Winnipeg. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Winnipeg. Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Fairview Lawn Cemetery, Halifax, photo by Edgar El (CC BY 3.0).
France3 records
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Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Numa Roland Paul LiaoBorn 1918 in Paris; died 1998 in Clamart (Hauts-de-Seine).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte) -
Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Feng Hsiang LiaoBorn 1946 in Yun-Ling-Hsien (Chine Nationaliste); died 1998 in Hong Kong.
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte) -
Example: French death register, 1930 Death record Augustin LiaoBorn 1910 in Spain; died 1996 in Le Raincy (Seine-Saint-Denis).
Insee, Fichier des personnes décédées (Licence Ouverte)
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).
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Liao.
- Lheureux 2,186 · U.S. census
- Lhomme 138 · U.S. census
- Lhuillier 333 · U.S. census
- Li 111,786 · U.S. census
- Lia 706 · U.S. census
- Liang 24,140 · U.S. census
- Liautaud 225 · U.S. census
- Liban 384 · U.S. census
- Libbrecht 101 · U.S. census
- Libby 10,631 · U.S. census
- Liber 298 · U.S. census
- Libera 427 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Liao 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.