Oates is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Adam Oates, professional ice hockey player
Colin Oates (born 1983), English judoka
Corey Oates (born 1994), Australian rugby league player
Cynthia de la Vega Oates, Mexican model
Dan Oates, American police chief
Eugene William Oates (1845–1911), English naturalist
Frank Oates, British African explorer
Graham Oates (footballer born 1943), English footballer
Graham Oates (footballer born 1949), English footballer
Jackie Oates (born 1983), English folk musician
John Oates, musician and producer of Hall & Oates
Johnny Oates, former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball
Joyce Carol Oates, American author, novelist, poet, and playwright
Lawrence Oates, British Antarctic explorer
Simon Oates, British actor
Stephen B. Oates, American author and biographer
T. Oates (rugby league), rugby league player
Tom Oates, American sportswriter
Warren Oates, American character actor
Titus Oates, 17th-century perjurer who fabricated a fraudulent Catholic plot to kill King Charles II of England
William Oates (disambiguation)
Wallace Eugene Oates, American economist, author of numerous works on fiscal federalism
