Gao (surname)

Gao / Kao

Stroke order of the Gao surname
Pronunciation	Gāo (Pinyin) Ko (Pe̍h-ōe-jī) Gou1 (Jyutping)
Language(s)	Chinese
Origin
Language(s)	Old Chinese
Meaning	high, tall
Other names
Variant form(s)	Gao, Kao (Mandarin) Ko, Kou (Cantonese, Hokkien)
Derivative(s)	Cao, Ko

Gao (Chinese: 高) is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin that can be literally translated as "high" or "tall". There are approximately 17 million living people with this surname. Some places, such as Taiwan, usually romanise this family name into "Kao". In Hong Kong, it is romanized to "Ko". In Macau, it is romanized to "Kou". In English, it is romanized to "Kauh". In 2019 it was the 19th most common surname in Mainland China.^[1] The Korean surname, "Ko" or "Koh", is derived from and written with the same Chinese character (高).