 Among respondents to the 2000 United States Census, Yau was the 394th-most common surname among Asian Pacific Americans, and 10,881th-most common overall, with 2,686 bearers (93.9% of whom identified as Asian/Pacific Islander).Yau is the spelling in Gwoyeu Romatzyh (a less common-system of transcribing Mandarin Chinese) of the surname spelled Yào in the more widespread pinyin system.People with a non-Chinese surname Yau, or whose names as written in Chinese characters are not available