The Yoo surname

In the 2010 U.S. Census, 13,225 people carried this name — #2,724 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 22,300 people counted. That is up 34% from 9,853 in 2000.

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Where the name comes from

The origin of the Yoo surname

Borrowed from Korean 유 (Yu), derived from 柳, 劉, or 兪.

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Yoo» (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 192 people named Yoo 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.

Where it concentrates, on the map

Where they live today

City of Buenos Aires 166
Buenos Aires Province 26

RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.

In Switzerland’s population statistics

43 people named Yoo live in Switzerland.

They live in 7 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Geneva.

Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.

Where they live today

Geneva 10
Vaud 8
Zurich 8
Zug 5
Bern 4
Basel-Stadt 4
St. Gallen 4

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

48 people named Yoo is counted in Sweden.

Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.

Counted, by country

Sweden (2022) 48

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

Yoo in American newspapers,
1922–1925.

Newspaper page from Great Falls Tribune carrying the name Yoo
Great Falls Tribune 1922-02-26
Newspaper page from The Cordele Dispatch And Daily Sentinel carrying the name Yoo
The Cordele Dispatch And Daily Sentinel 1925-07-06

Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 112 pages in all carry the name.

In print

Yoo in Australian newspapers,
1850s–1990s.

1,628 articles name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Yoo. The most, 282, date from the 1920s. Weighed against how much of each state’s press from the same decades has been digitised, it stands out most in New South Wales, at 1.5 times its expected share.

Articles, by state

New South Wales 791
Victoria 362
Queensland 194
South Australia 157
Western Australia 59
Tasmania 45
ACT (Canberra) 18

Trove, National Library of Australia (trove.nla.gov.au) · articles in its digitised newspapers that name a Mr, Mrs or Miss Yoo.

Who carried it

People named Yoo,
with a public archive behind them.

  • Yu Sunjŏng
    Yu Sunjŏng 1459–1512 · politician
  • Yu Sŏngwŏn d. 1456 · politician
  • Liu Hongji 582–650 · politician
  • Yu Ch'a-dal 880–901
  • Queen Sinmyeongsunseong 900–
  • Liu Bangui 1092–1149 · civilian official

Wikidata (CC0) · portraits via Wikimedia Commons, shown cropped, in the public domain or CC0 · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.

In the public record

People named Yoo,
in the records of 2 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 States32 records

32 records of the Yoo name in the United States
  • U.S. Army enlistment records, World War II 13
  • U.S. alien registration index, 1940–1955 12
  • U.S. veterans' cemetery records, burials to 2001 4
  • New York City birth, marriage and death certificates 2
  • New York State death index (outside NYC), 1957–2001 1
  1. A United States Selective Service registration card, 1942
    Example: U.S. registration card, 1942
    Military record Ignatius J. Yoo

    Born 1909 in Connecticut. Enlisted 1945 at New Haven; driver from Hartford County.

    U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain)
  2. A U.S. Army record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864
    Example: U.S. burial record, 1864
    Burial record Byung Koo Yoo

    U.S. Army veteran. Born 1958, died 1997; buried at Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery, Kaneohe, Hawaii.

    U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0)
  3. The receipt card sent under the U.S. Alien Registration Act of 1940
    Example: U.S. alien registration card, 1940s
    Alien registration Elizabeth Yoo

    Born 1869 in Hungary. Registered as a foreign national in East Hartford Town, Connecticut, under the Alien Registration Act of 1940.

    U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain)

Showing 3 of 32 records for Yoo in the United States.

Counts: U.S. National Archives, WWII Army Enlistment Records (public domain) · U.S. National Archives, Flexoline Index Data File (public domain) · U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Gravesite Locator (CC0) · 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: U.S. Selective Service registration card, 1942 (public domain); Record of death and interment, Camp Nelson, Kentucky, 1864, U.S. National Archives (public domain); Alien Registration Receipt Card, Form AR-3, photo by Bobjgalindo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Australia3 records

3 records of the Yoo name in Australia
  • NSW convict, estate and railway indexes 1
  • Tasmanian Names Index 1
  • Victoria passenger lists, 1839–1923 1
  1. A marriage entry in the civil register of Tilburg, 1911
    Example: marriage register, 1911
    Marriage record Ah-foo Yoo

    Married 1880 in Hobart, Tasmania.

    Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0)
  2. A page of the Berlin civil register, 1880
    Example: civil register, 1880
    Death record John S. Yoo

    Of Mose Vale, New South Wales; died 1921.

    Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY)

Showing 2 of 3 records for Yoo in Australia.

Counts: Museums of History NSW – State Archives Collection (CC BY) · Libraries Tasmania, Tasmanian Names Index (CC BY 4.0) · Public Record Office Victoria (CC BY 4.0). Example pages, not the records of the people shown: Marriage register, Tilburg, 1911, Regionaal Archief Tilburg (public domain); Civil register, Berlin, 1880, Landesarchiv Berlin (CC0).

Nearby in the index

Surnames next to Yoo.

When the index is not enough

This page says where Yoo 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.

See the Yoo volume
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