Tso
A surname of East Asian origin, most often found as a romanization of a Chinese family name.
The #9,931 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 95,028 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tso is an English spelling used for several Chinese surnames, depending on the romanization system and the Chinese character involved. In many cases it represents forms now written in pinyin as Zuo or Cao, or other similar surnames rendered differently in older systems such as Wade-Giles. Because the same spelling can reflect more than one Chinese surname, the literal original meaning is not single and fixed across all families.
History
The spelling became familiar in English-language records through older romanization practices for Chinese names. It is especially associated with Chinese diaspora communities in North America and elsewhere, where different spellings were used before modern pinyin became standard. As a result, the same surname spelling may have multiple independent Chinese origins.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Roman spelling can point to more than one Chinese surname, so two people named Tso may not share the same underlying Chinese character.
From the historical record
“SleiDH ! MarriuK Lk^ (London), p. i>7^ tSo^. HuTiR^WiJliun Bloom uid Ann Voonir; St. Geo. Han. Sq. ii. ]tl. MDB.<Ko[folkkt>; UKidoo, 5 i niUa- delphia, JJ.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances