Cho

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Choi in US United States, AU Australia, CA Canada and 11 more, 최 in KR South Korea, MO Macao, PL Poland and 1 more and Choe in KP North Korea.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Cho is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish surname42K records spelled Cho34 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Guatemala, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Chö, Chó, Chō, Čhô, Çho

• a separate surname29K records spelled Cho7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Chō, Chō̜, Čhō, Chö, Chó

• Vietnamese surname17K records spelled Cho17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Vietnam, United States, Hong Kong, United Kingdom

  Also written Chờ, Chợ, Chó, Chớ, Chơ

• Burmese surname9.6K records spelled Cho58 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Myanmar (Burma), United States, Malaysia, Singapore

  Also written Ĉĥõ, Cĥó, Chö, Ćĥõ, Ĉĥò

76 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Cho is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Chessnah, Chezna, Cheznia, Chezniah, Mariposa

  as a name·25,000 nombres de bebé. La mejor guía para escoger el nombre adecuado

• In cdo, found ； to establish, to erect : also read i6h、 q. v. : tauk^ pre- eminent ； tauk^ wok、 tinff Jcung, to excel the whole crowd ； *tauk^ lik^ to erect, to set upright'; *tauk, ^ meritorious, as said of of- ficers at the quinquennial trial ； COLL., tauky chi &、 ig、 (a concubine) promoted to be the chief wife.

  as a word·An Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect

• In cdo, +e E- a slight sickness, to recover from illness

  as a word·Dictionary of the Foochow Dialect

• In Galician, contraction of te o (“to you, him/it (masculine)”)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In frp, alternative form of sol (“alone”)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name●

• Zhang Qianb. 200CNnot in their usual nameimperial envoy to the world outside of China in the 2nd century BC
• Jang Sung-taekb. 1946KPnot in their usual nameNorth Korean government official (1946–2013)
• Zhang Yimoub. 1950CNnot in their usual nameChinese filmmaker
• Yitang Zhangb. 1955CNnot in their usual nameChinese-born American mathematician
• Leslie Cheungb. 1956CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong singer and actor (1956–2003)
• Maggie Cheungb. 1964GBnot in their usual nameHong Kong actress
• John Chob. 1972USAmerican actor (born 1972)
• Michael Changb. 1972USnot in their usual nameAmerican tennis player (born 1972)
• Chang Chenb. 1976TWnot in their usual nameTaiwanese actor
• Meng'er Zhangb. 1987CNnot in their usual nameChinese actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 136 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Cho?

We estimate roughly 2.4 million people bear Cho (counting its spellings and scripts) across 14 countries in our records.

In which country does Cho have the most bearers?

We estimate about 2.3 million people bear Cho in South Korea, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled 최.

Where is Cho most common?

Cho is densest in South Korea, where the national register counts about 1 in 22 people carrying it.

How common is Cho compared with other names?

In South Korea, Cho is the 4th most common surname of 14,083 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Cho mean?

Recorded meaning: Dowager Queen Cho; patron of Kyongbok Palace rebuilding in 1865.