Gou

surname · Latin script

Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published

/ɡu/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated

Gou is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Spain than in any other country.

rarermore common
  • USUnited States1 in 1.2M(measured from records)
  • ESSpain1 in 133K
  • CHSwitzerland1 in 646K

carrying the name, as counted by each country's national register. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

Spain (measured from records)

375 people

Sources
130 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

1 in 133K (inferred from the name graph)

Spain

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

recorded in Korean

@ 商 时 高 宗 贤 臣 祖 已 之 七 世 孙 成 , 迁 于 分 (故地 在 今 河南 汝 南 东南 ) ,后 有 健 氏 、 执 氏 , 见 《 姓 源 》(17 ,60) . DR TLC RES) (15,21), QFE 姓 , 即 执 失 氏 之 后 , 见 《 姓 氏 考 略 》(60) 。

Sources 2

  • Chinese Surnames Encyclopedia (Section 2)
  • Schuessler, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (2007)

Attested across 3 languages in the etymology graph.

Where in the world(measured from records)

Gou 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.

Where Gou is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
ES Spain3751 in 133K375Gou26
US United States2761 in 1.2M403Gou130
AR Argentina291 in 1.6M29—1
BR Brazil281 in 7.6M28—1
IN India171 in 78M17Gou14
CH Switzerland131 in 646K13—4
SE Sweden81 in 1.3M8—3

375 people counted by INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos). 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 — Surname Frequency 2010; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020; INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos); INE — Apellidos más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal); RENAPER — Apellidos (person counts, national); IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname); Instate — India surnames (clean spellings) from electoral rolls; BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames); Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population). 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 names spelled this way(inferred from the name graph)

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

  • Spanish surname7 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Spain, Argentina, Mexico, China

    Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

    Also written Goü, Gõü, Gõu, Gŏu, Goù

  • French surname13 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in France, United States, China, Morocco

    Also written Göû, Gõú, Gôü, Goú, Gőű

  • Hindi surname3 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in India, China, United States, Pakistan

    Languages: Hindi, Urdu

    Also written Gōü

  • English surname57 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Australia, China, Canada

    Languages: English, German, Hindi

    Also written Guo, Го, Goh, Гуо, Zhaoyi

46 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.

Notable people with this name(measured from records)

1850190019502000Guo Moruo, b. 1892Plaek Phibunsongkhram, b. 1897Momofuku Ando, b. 1910Goh Chok Tong, b. 1941John Woo, b. 1946John Lone, b. 1952Annabel Chong, b. 1972Daniel Wu, b. 1974Kris Wu, b. 1990Peggy Gou, b. 1991
  • Guo Moruob. 1892CNnot in their usual nameChinese writer (1892-1978)
  • Plaek Phibunsongkhramb. 1897THnot in their usual namePrime Minister of Thailand, 1938–44 and 1948–57 (1897–1964)
  • Momofuku Andob. 1910JPnot in their usual nameTaiwanese-Japanese businessman, created instant noodle (ramyeon), Nissin Chikin Ramen
  • Goh Chok Tongb. 1941SGnot in their usual name2nd Prime Minister of Singapore from 1990 to 2004
  • John Woob. 1946CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong film director, screenwriter and film producer
  • John Loneb. 1952USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor
  • Annabel Chongb. 1972SGnot in their usual nameSingaporean-American pornographic actress
  • Daniel Wub. 1974USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor
  • Kris Wub. 1990CNnot in their usual nameChinese-born Canadian rapper and convicted sex criminal (1990–)
  • Peggy Goub. 1991KRSouth Korean DJ, music producer, singer and fashion designer

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).

How to address them(machine-generated)

FormalDear Colleague,
InformalHello,

Evidence(measured from records)

Attested in 26 sources across 18 countries.

Official registers attesting Gou
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
IN IndiaInstate — India surnames by state (real counts) from electoral rolls—595#1,933
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20202020403#55,082
ES SpainINE — Apellidos más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal)—375#10,078
ES SpainINE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos)—375#10,070
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20102010276#70,833
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20002000138#116,835
IN IndiaInstate — India surnames by state (real counts) from electoral rolls—67#565
AR ArgentinaRENAPER — Apellidos (person counts, national)—29—
BR BrazilIBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname)—28#156,028
IN IndiaInstate — India surnames (clean spellings) from electoral rolls—17#86,327
IN IndiaInstate — India surnames by state (real counts) from electoral rolls—16#6,620
IN IndiaInstate — India surnames by state (real counts) from electoral rolls—14#4,054

Reference works 2

  • Wikipedia surname 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

How do you pronounce Gou?
A machine transcription gives /ɡu/ (IPA) for Chinese.
In which country does Gou have the most bearers?
In Spain, the national register counted about 375 people named Gou, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled gou.
Where is Gou most common?
Gou is densest in Spain, where the national register counts about 1 in 133 thousand people carrying it.
How common is the name Gou?
In Spain, the national register counted 375 people named Gou, about 1 in 133 thousand residents.

What do you want to know about Gou?

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Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/gou

The 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, “Gou”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Gou parses inside a full name →