Given name & surname

Xiao

Xiao is a surname from Mandarin. It is used in English and Galician.

Meaning & origin

Where it comes from

Xiao comes from Mandarin.

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

How it developed

From Old Galician-Portuguese Juião, from Latin.

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1984. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Xiao through the years

Babies since 1880
71
6 boys · 65 girls
Most popular year
1993
9 babies
2025
0
Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
Boys Girls
024620002025Highest share 1993Boys 0.0Girls 0.0
Xiao in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1984–2025, per million births of each sex. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 7 in 2006. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 9 in 1993. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 7,066 as a first name in 2020; 10,322 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.

Xiao’s family of names

In Galician usage, Xiao has a conventional equivalent in the English form Julian. In Galician usage, Xiao has a related form in Xián. In Galician usage, Xiao has a related form in Xián.

Walk Xiao’s family in the name graph

XiaoΞιάοHsiaoXiánJulianSoHyoXiana笑孝曉소小

Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Around the world

Xiao has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its Chinese roots to each of them.

EnglishChinese

4 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.

Each dot marks where a language is rooted, not where people with the name live today. Bigger dots hold more names. Language locations from Glottolog (CC BY 4.0); map from Natural Earth.

Nicknames & forms 2

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 9

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

Show 1 moreShow fewer

See also 1

Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.

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Sibling ideas

Names that share Xiao’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Xiao

A sister for Xiao