Names of Palau PW
Names in Palau are recorded in English and pau, with a given name followed by an inherited family name.
Written in English, pau.
- Population
- 22K
- Official registers
- 3
At least one official register, plus a written account of the naming system.
The account of the naming system rests on encyclopaedia and genealogy sources; it has not yet been checked against onomastic literature.
How names work in Palau
2 naming traditions are in use in Palau, listed in the order of the country's languages. They are separate systems, not variants of one, and each has its own page.
The most common names in Palau
Registers & sources
Official registers
- This page discusses Palauan surnames, highlighting their cultural significance and frequency, published by the National2026not a population count
surnam.es. Counts: not recorded. surname. 50 forms. 2026. Licence: unknown.
What we know about this register
Auto-discovered via Firecrawl. This page discusses Palauan surnames, highlighting their cultural significance and frequency, published by the National Institute of Statistics of Palau. Checked 2026-08-06 (task #42 sweep) for a live per-name existence oracle: Palau's Office of Planning and Statistics has no online name-search tool, and the Palau Election Commission's site offers only downloadable PDF registration/affidavit forms, no online voter-roll query. No new source added.
Last verified 2026-05-11.
- This page contains information on Palauan names published on the Name Archive Wikia.2023not a population count
name-archive.fandom.com. Counts: not recorded. given. 22 forms. 2023. Licence: unknown.
What we know about this register
Auto-discovered via Firecrawl. This page contains information on Palauan names published on the Name Archive Wikia.
Last verified 2026-05-11.
- This document describes traditional place names and practices in Palau, published by the Bureau of Arts and Culture Mini2014not a population count
ministryofhrctd.pw. Counts: not recorded. given. 9 forms. 2014. Licence: unknown.
What we know about this register
Auto-discovered via Firecrawl. This document describes traditional place names and practices in Palau, published by the Bureau of Arts and Culture Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs.
Last verified 2026-05-11.
Cited works
Behind this page's own account — its one-line answer, its explanation of why the rankings differ, and the notes on its registers. Each naming tradition cites its own sources on its page. Not yet checked against onomastic literature.
- FamilySearchgenealogy
- Forebearsgenealogy
- Grokipediaweb
- Marsol Lawyerweb
- Surnam.esweb
- Surnam.esweb
About this data
Official figures are reproduced from the register named beside them, at the year named beside them, and are never combined across registers. The "across all records" ranking counts records in our own corpus — historical registers, the diaspora, business and place records — and is not a population count. Bearer estimates are omitted where a name accounts for more than a quarter of a country's records, because the estimate is not defensible there. Names listed by reference works and licensed name dictionaries are cited as attesting a name; their figures are not published.
Data snapshot: 2026-09-12.
Questions
- Is there one naming system in Palau?
- No — 2 are described on this page (Micronesian, British), and they are separate systems rather than variants of one.
Cite this page: Mondonomo, “Names of Palau”, https://nelma.mondonomo.ai/names/PW (data snapshot 2026-09-12).