Tao is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname 陶 (Táo). It ranked 31st among the Song-era Hundred Family Surnames.
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Tào is also a Vietnamese surname derived from the Chinese surname Cao (Chữ Nôm: 曹).
Origin
Various Chinese Tao family from;
Romanization
Tao was romanized T'ao under the Wade-Giles system, although it was common to omit the apostrophe. It is romanized To, Tou and Tow in Cantonese; Tô in Minnan; Tau, Tow in Teochew; and Tháu in Gan.
The Vietnamese surname formerly written as 陶 in Chữ Nôm is now written Đào; the Korean surname formerly written as 陶 in Hanja is now written 도 and romanized Do; the same surname in Kanji is romanized Tō in Japanese.
Distribution
Tao was the 82nd-most-common surname in mainland China, but it was unlisted among the 100 most common Taiwanese surnames.
Tao is a fairly uncommon surname in the United States, being ranked 12,503rd during the 1990 census and 10,033rd during the year 2000 one.
History
Some Zhejiangese Tao who joined the White Banner upon the advent of the Qing dynasty Manchufied their name to Tohoro (Chinese: Tuohuoluo).