Kwok
A Chinese surname most often representing Cantonese spellings of names written 郭 or, less commonly, other similar-sounding characters.
The #6,257 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 56,568 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kwok is a Cantonese romanization used for several Chinese surnames, most commonly 郭, which in Mandarin is Guo. The underlying character 郭 originally referred to the outer wall of a city or the fortified outskirts, and it became a hereditary surname long ago. In some families, Kwok may also reflect other Chinese names that were romanized the same way in Cantonese, depending on dialect and region.
History
The spelling Kwok is especially associated with Cantonese-speaking communities from Hong Kong, Guangdong, and overseas diaspora populations. In English-speaking countries it became a common Romanization in the 20th century, so the same family name may appear in records as Kwok, Kuo, Quo, or Guo depending on language and transcription system. Because it is a romanized surname rather than a single fixed Chinese character in all cases, family origin can vary by lineage.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Chinese surname written 郭 is usually pronounced Guō in Mandarin but Kwok in Cantonese, which is why different romanizations can point to the same ancestral name.