Xu: meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning & origin

Where it comes from

Xu comes from Mandarin.

How it developed

From Mandarin ^徐.

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1988. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Xu through the years

Babies since 1880: 10; 10 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year: 1988; 5 babies
2025: 5; #13,822 for boys
2021–25 vs 2016–20: —; Too few births to compare

Xu in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1988–2025, per million boys born. 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

In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 13,822 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,433 as a first name in 2020; 44,406 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.

Xu’s family of names

In English usage, Xu as a surname shares a linguistic root with SEO. In English usage, Xu as a surname has a related form in HSU. In English usage, Xu as a surname has a related form in HSU.

Walk Xu’s family in the name graph

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.

Nicknames & forms 4

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Spellings & scripts 1

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Хуin another script · Russian

Across languages 6

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

People named Xu

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Xu, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Chinese

Sibling ideas

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

A brother for Xu

A sister for Xu

Your shortlist

Xu