Mo
A short surname that can arise from several unrelated sources, including Chinese, Norwegian, or as a clipped form of longer names.
The #8,320 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,516 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Mo is a very short surname, and that makes its history complicated: in different families it may come from different languages and have different origins. In Chinese it can represent several different surnames in romanization, while in Norwegian and other Scandinavian contexts it may come from place names or old words connected with landforms or moorland. In English-speaking countries it can also be a shortened or simplified form of longer surnames that began with Mo-.
History
Because it is so brief, Mo often appears in records as a simplified spelling adopted in migration or anglicization. In the United States, many bearers likely descend from separate immigrant lines rather than one single ancestral family. The surname is therefore best treated as a name with multiple independent origins rather than one fixed family history.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Very short surnames like Mo often have more than one origin, so two people with the same spelling may not be related at all.