Sou

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Zoe in AR Argentina, US United States, GB United Kingdom and 13 more, Agatha in BR Brazil, NL Netherlands, IN India and 2 more, Zoi in PL Poland, GR Greece and Agathe in FR France.

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 12 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◐

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

• Portuguese given name2.6K records spelled Sou19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Portugal, Tunisia

  Also written Soû, Sóû, Sổu, Soù, Sôû

• Khmer given name1.9K records spelled Sou5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Algeria, Canada, Cambodia

  Also written Sôû, Sôu, Sõu, Šǭū

• Hindi given name1.7K records spelled Sou9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, Malaysia, Morocco

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Śôű, Śôů, Sőû, Šőů, Soù

• a separate given name1.3K records spelled Sou2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom

  Also written Şou

53 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●

Sou 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.

• In Chinese, nonstandard spelling of sōu

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

• In Japanese, Rōmaji transcription of そう

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

• In French, sou (old French coin)

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

• In cdo, Also read ^sieii and ^s6 : tH^S a general term for veesels,

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

• In cdo, a boat, a junk, a ship; chiek. a boat and oars. 9 n

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

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.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 15 years between 1981–1997. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Sō Yamamurab. 1910JPnot in their usual nameJapanese actor (1910–2000)
• Sō Kuramotob. 1935JPnot in their usual nameJapanese screenwriter
• So Aonob. 1943JPnot in their usual nameJapanese writer
• Sō Kitamurab. 1952JPnot in their usual nameJapanese playwright, director (1952-)
• So Taguchib. 1969JPnot in their usual nameJapanse baseball player
• Sō Takeib. 1973JPnot in their usual nameJapanese TV personality, decathlete, sprinter
• Sō Hirosawab. 1979JPnot in their usual nameJapanese actress and voice actress
• Sō Hamayumibab. 1986JPnot in their usual nameJapanese mangaka and illustrator
• Sō Sagarab. 1986JPnot in their usual nameJapanese novelist
• So Fujitanib. 1997JPnot in their usual nameJapanese association football player

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 · 70 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Sou?

We estimate roughly 530 thousand people bear Sou (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Sou have the most bearers?

Sou is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled zoe.

Where is Sou most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Sou is densest in Poland — about 1 in 208 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Sou compared with other names?

In Argentina, Sou is the 319th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Sou a male or female name?

Sou is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Sou mean?

Recorded meaning: An old French copper coin equal to one twentieth of a livre or twelve deniers; one sou is to the livre as one shilling is to the pound.