Xiao
given name · Latin script
Meaning, in Chinese: nonstandard spelling of xiāo
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
Xiao is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country.
- CNChina≈1 in 1.2K(inferred from the name graph)
- SGSingapore≈1 in 3K
- MYMalaysia≈1 in 3.1K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- China (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 311 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 1.2K (inferred from the name graph)
≈1,100,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
China, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
nonstandard spelling of xiāo
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 11 languages in the etymology graph.
How Xiao is read(measured from records)
Xiao is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.
- Chinese41%
nonstandard spelling of xiāo
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
- English32%
A type of Chinese flute.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Xiao counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN China | — | ≈1,100,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.2K | — | Xiao | 183 |
| MY Malaysia | — | ≈11,000 est. | ≈1 in 3.1K | — | Xiao | 60 |
| US United States | — | 7,066 | 1 in 47K | 10K | Xiao | 311 |
| TW Taiwan | — | ≈3,400 est. | ≈1 in 7K | — | Xiao | 81 |
| NL Netherlands | — | ≈2,300 est. | ≈1 in 7.4K | 54 | Xiao | 41 |
| SG Singapore | #355 | ≈2,100 est. | ≈1 in 3K | — | Xiao | 78 |
| HK Hong Kong | #277 | ≈1,700 est. | ≈1 in 4.2K | — | Xiao | 68 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020; Meertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Xiao is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In Galician, a male given name, equivalent to English Julian
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In och, be small, little, young; belittle
as a wordSchuessler, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (2007)
In och, to resemble (as son his father)
as a wordSchuessler, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (2007)
In och, Pipe, flute
as a wordSchuessler, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (2007)
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(measured from records)
- Empress Xiaogongrenb. 1660CNnot in their usual nameQing Dynasty empress (of Emperor Kangxi); mother of Yongzheng Emperor
- Peng Xiaolianb. 1953CNnot in their usual nameChinese film director (1953-2019)
- Li Xiaopengb. 1959CNnot in their usual nameGovernor of Shanxi, son of former Premier Li Peng
- Yang Xiaob. 1964CNChinese rower
- Xiaowei Zhuangb. 1972CNnot in their usual nameChinese American biophysicist
- Li Xiaoshuangb. 1973CNnot in their usual namegymnast
- Li Xiaopengb. 1981CNnot in their usual nameChinese artistic gymnast (born 1981)
- Li Xiaolub. 1982CNnot in their usual nameChinese actress
- Chen Xiaob. 1987CNChinese television and film actor
- Cui Xiaotongb. 1994CNnot in their usual nameChinese rower
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(measured from records)
Attested in 60 sources across 31 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 4.7K | #3,109 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 2.4K | #3,109 |
| NL Netherlands | Meertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017) | — | 54 | #11,332 |
| NL Netherlands | Meertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017) | — | 37 | #13,994 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2006 | 7 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1994 | 6 | — |
Reference works 4
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Xiao mean, and where does it come from?
- nonstandard spelling of xiāo Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- What are other forms of the name Xiao?
- In the etymology graph, Julian, Jules and Jolyon are forms of the same name in other languages.
- Is Xiao a male or female name?
- Xiao is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.
- In which country does Xiao have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 1.1 million people named Xiao in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled xiao.
- How common is the name Xiao?
- In the United States, the national register counted 7,066 people named Xiao in 2020, about 1 in 47 thousand residents.
- How common is Xiao compared with other names?
- In Hong Kong, Xiao is the 277th most common given name of 23,276 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Xiao?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/xiaoThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Xiao” — the 277th most common given name in Hong Kong. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.