Chou

Chou is a transliteration used in English-language texts for several East Asian surnames, most commonly the Mandarin surname Zhou. The spelling arises from older romanization systems such as Wade-Giles, in which the Mandarin syllable Zhou can be rendered as Chou. Because of this, "Chou" may refer to more than one surname in Chinese, and modern texts often prefer Zhou, with related variants such as Chow or Cho appearing in different communities.

In Mandarin, the standard spelling is Zhou (周), pronounced roughly like zhou with a falling tone. The Wade-Giles rendering Chou reflects historical transcription practices rather than a distinct pronunciation. In other East Asian languages, similar-sounding names have their own standard spellings, but the English form Chou has persisted in historical and contemporary use.

Notable individuals associated with the spelling include Jay Chou, a Taiwanese musician, singer, and actor who has achieved international recognition. In historical English-language sources, leaders such as Zhou Enlai (周恩来) have appeared as Chou En-lai, illustrating how the spelling has shifted with transliteration conventions over time.

Chou also appears in diaspora communities and has variants in other languages; for example, Cantonese-speaking communities often render similar surnames as Chow or Chau. Because Chou is primarily a transliteration rather than a single, unambiguous surname, it can reflect different families depending on historical transliteration practices. When researching a person or record, it can be helpful to consider the possible equivalents Zhou, Chow, or Cho.