Given name & surname
Tu
“one who is quick-minded”
Tu is used as a given name and a surname. One Vietnamese interpretation is “one who is quick-minded.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Vietnamese interpretation is “one who is quick-minded.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Vietnamese.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1978. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Tu through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 427
- 313 boys · 114 girls
- Most popular year
- 1984
- 32 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 2018. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 13 in 1990. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 6,480 as a first name in 2020; 10,693 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Tu’s family of names
In English usage, Tu as a surname has a related form in ZHU.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
If you love Tu, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Tam
“close to the heart” · “having heart”
52% boys · 48% girls
Thuan
“one who is tamed”
98% boys · 2% girls
Phuc
“one who is blessed”
98% boys · 2% girls
Tho
“having a long life”
88% boys · 12% girls
Dung
“a brave man; a heroic man”
62% boys · 38% girls
Hue
“resembling the lily flower”
84% boys · 16% girls
Thanh
“one who is accomplished”
63% boys · 37% girls
Hai
“of the river”
96% boys · 4% girls