Rao (Chinese surname)

Rao is a Chinese family name. It can also be spelled as "Yow" or "Yaw".

The surname Rao is approximately 2200 years old, and originated in the area near present-day Linfen county in Shanxi province.

It is the 181st most common name being shared by around 730,000 people or 0.055% of the population with the province with the most people being Jiangxi. It is on the Hundred Family Surnames poem.

Notable people

 * Jao Tsung-I (1917–2018), Hong Kong Chinese calligrapher
 * Ngeow Sze Chan (1915–2002), Malaysian practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine
 * Rao Ching-ling (born 1969), magistrate of Taitung County
 * Rao Shushi (1903–1975), senior member of the Chinese Communist Party
 * Rao Yi (born 1962 in Jiangxi), neuroscientist
 * Rao Yutai (1891–1968), physicist
 * Yaw Shin Leong (1976-2023), Singaporean politician
 * Nyu Kok Meng, Malaysian and convicted robber who committed armed robbery in Singapore.