Rao () is a Chinese family name. It can also be spelled as "Yow" or "Yaw".
The surname Rao is approximately 2200 years old, and originated in the area near present-day Linfen county in Shanxi province.
It is the 181st most common name being shared by around 730,000 people or 0.055% of the population with the province with the most people being Jiangxi. It is on the Hundred Family Surnames poem.
Notable people Jao Tsung-I (1917–2018), Hong Kong Chinese calligrapher Ngeow Sze Chan (1915–2002), Malaysian practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine Rao Ching-ling (born 1969), magistrate of Taitung County Rao Shushi (1903–1975), senior member of the Chinese Communist Party Rao Yi (born 1962 in Jiangxi), neuroscientist Rao Yutai (1891–1968), physicist Yaw Shin Leong (1976–2023), Singaporean politician Nyu Kok Meng, Malaysian and convicted robber who committed armed robbery in Singapore.
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