Chinese surname
Encyclopedia
Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese
and Sinicized
Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China
, Taiwan
, Hong Kong
, and among overseas Chinese
communities. In ancient times two types of surname
s, family names and clan names (氏; pinyin: shì), existed.
The colloquial expressions laobaixing (老百姓; lit. "old hundred surnames"), and bǎixìng (百姓, lit. "hundred surnames") are used in Chinese to mean "ordinary folks", "the people", or "commoners." The Bǎijiāxìng (百家姓) or "the hundred most common surnames
" refers to an ancient text documenting Chinese surnames.
Chinese family names are patrilineal
, passed from father to children. (In cases of adoption, the adoptee usually also takes the same surname.)
(fifth century BC), only the royal family and the aristocratic elite could generally take surnames. Historically there was also difference between xing (姓) and shi (氏). Xing were surnames held by the immediate royal family. They generally are composed of a nü (女, meaning "female") radical which suggests that they originated from matriarchal societies based on maternal lineages. Another hypothesis has been proposed by sinologist Léon Vandermeersch upon observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from the Shang dynasty
through the Zhou
. The "female" radical seems to appear at the Zhou period next to Shang sinograms
indicating an ethnic group or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean "lady of such or such clan". The structure of the xing sinogram could reflect the fact that in the royal court of Zhou, at least in the beginning, only females (wives married into the Zhou family from other clans) were called by their birth clan name, while the men were usually designated by their title or fief.
Prior to the Qin Dynasty
(third century BC) China was largely a feudal society. As fiefdoms were divided and subdivided among descendants, so additional sub-surnames known as shi were created to distinguish between different seniority of lineages among the nobles though in theory they shared the same ancestor. In this way, a nobleman would hold a shi and a xing. After the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang
in 221 BC, surnames gradually devolved to the lower classes and the difference between xing and shi blurred.
Shi surnames, many of which survive to the present day, usually from a/an:
Surnames are not evenly distributed throughout China's geography. In northern China, Wang (王) is the most common surname, being shared by 9.9% of the population. Next are Li (李), Zhang (张/張) and Liu (刘/劉). In the south, Chen (陈/陳) is the most common, being shared by 10.6% of the population. Next are Li (李), Huang (黄), Lin (林) and Zhang (张/張). Around the major crossing points of the Yangtze River
, the most common surname is Li (李), taking up 7.7%, followed by Wang (王), Zhang (张/張), Chen (陈/陳) and Liu (刘/劉).
A 1987 study showed over 450 family names in common use in Beijing
, but there were fewer than 300 family names in Fujian.
A study by geneticist
Yuan Yida
has found that of all the people with a particular surname, there tends to be a population concentration in a certain province, as tabled to the right. It does not show, however, the most common surnames in any one province.
The 55th most common family name "Xiao" (肖) appears to be very rare in Hong Kong
. This is explained by the fact Hong Kong uses traditional Chinese character
s not simplified Chinese character
s. Originally, the surname 蕭 (Xiao) was rather common while the surname 肖 (Xiao) was extremely rare, if not non-existent (it is mentioned only sporadically in historical texts). The first round of simplification in 1956 simplified 蕭 into 萧, keeping 蕭/萧 and 肖 distinct. However the second-round
in 1977, which has long been abolished, merged 萧 and 肖 into 肖. Despite the retraction of the second round, some people have kept 肖 as their surname, so that there are now two separate surnames, 萧 and 肖.
Chén (trad 陳, simp 陈) is perhaps the most common surname in Hong Kong
and Macau
(romanized as Chan) and is also common in Taiwan
(romanized as Chen). Fang (方), which is only the 47th most common overall, is much more common in San Francisco
's Chinatown in the United States
(more often romanized as Fong based on the Cantonese dialect). As with the concentration of family names, this can also be explained statistically, as a person with an uncommon name moving to an unsettled area and leaving his family name to large number of people.
After the Song Dynasty, surname distributions in China largely settled down. The Kuang family for example, migrated from the capital in the north and settled in Guangdong after the revolts of the Song Dynasty. Villages are often made up of a single patrilineage, being individuals with the same surname, often with a common male ancestor. They usually intermarry with others from nearby villages, creating genetic clusters.
, most have either been lost (via the Galton–Watson process of extinction of family names) or simplified. Historically there are close to 12,000 surnames recorded, of which only about 3,100 are in current use, a factor of almost 4:1 (about 75%) reduction. In recent centuries some two-character surnames have often dropped a character. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China
, moreover, some surnames have been graphically simplified.
Although there are thousands of Chinese family names, the 100 most common, which together make up less than 5% of those in existence, are shared by 85% of the population. The three most common surnames in Mainland China are Li
, Wang
and Zhang
, which make up 7.9%, 7.4% and 7.1% respectively. Together they number close to 300 million and are easily the most common surnames in the world. In Chinese, the phrase "three Zhang, four Li" is used to say "just anybody".
In a 1990 study, the top 200 family names accounted for over 96% of a random sample of 174,900 persons, with over 500 other names accounting for the remaining 4%. In a different study (1987), which combined data from Taiwan and mainland China (sample size of 570,000 persons), the top 19 names covered 55.6%, and the top 100 names covered 87% of the sample. Other data suggest that the top 50 names comprise 70% of the population.
Most commonly occurring Chinese family names have only one character; however, about twenty double-character family names
have survived into modern times. These include Sima
(司馬, simp. 司马), Zhuge
(諸葛, simp. 诸葛), Ouyang
(歐陽, simp. 欧阳), occasionally romanized as O'Young, suggesting an Irish
origin to English-speakers), and Situ
(or Sito 司徒). There are family names with three or more characters, but those are not ethnically Han Chinese. For example, Aixinjueluo (愛新覺羅, also romanized from the Manchu language
as Aisin Gioro
), was the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty
.
Transliteration
of Chinese family names (see List of common Chinese surnames) into foreign languages poses a number of problems. Chinese surnames are shared by people speaking a number of dialects and languages which often have different pronunciations of their surnames. The spread of the Chinese diaspora
into all parts of the world resulted in the Romanization
of the surnames based on different languages. As a result, it is common for the same surname to be transliterated differently. In certain dialects, different surnames could be homonyms so it is common for family names to appear ambiguous when transliterated. Example: 鄭/郑 (pinyin:Zheng) can be romanised into Chang, Cheng, Chung (which is actually Vietnamese in origin), Teh, Tay, Tee, Tsang, Zeng or Zheng, (in pinyin
, Chang, Cheng, Zheng and Zeng are all different names). Translating Chinese surnames from foreign transliteration often presents ambiguity. For example, the surname "Li" are all mandarin-based pinyin tranliteration for the surnames 黎 (Lí); 李, 理 and 里 (Lǐ); 郦/酈, 栗, 厉/厲, and 利 (Lì) depending on the tone
which are often omitted in foreign transliterations.
, Malaysia, Indonesia
and the Philippines
. In general people from China will have both their surnames and names in pinyin
. Those from Taiwan use Wade-Giles
romanisation. People from Southeast Asia (mainly Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines) and Hong Kong usually base their romanisation of surnames and names on the Min, Hakka and Cantonese languages. The younger generation from Singapore predominantly have their surname in dialect and given name in English.
There are also people who use non-standard romanisations, e.g. the Hong Kong media mogul 邵逸夫 Run Run Shaw
's surname 邵 is spelt as Shaw, pinyin: Shao. The use of different systems of romanisation based on different Chinese language variants during the 1900~1970 also contributed to the variations.
E.g.
Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia/Philippines: various spellings are used depending on name origin.
See List of common Chinese surnames for the different spellings and more examples.
among the royalty can be found in Sima Qian
's Historical Records, which contain tables recording the descent lines of noble houses called shibiao .
Later, during the Han Dynasty, these tables were used by prominent families to glorify themselves and sometimes even to legitimise their political power. For example, Cao Pi
, who forced the abdication of the last Han emperor in his favour, claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor
. Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honours. Unlike European practice in which some surnames are obviously noble, Chinese emperors and members of the royal family had regular surnames except in cases where they came from non-Han ethnic groups. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the Mandate of Heaven
and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.
The Tang Dynasty was the last period when the great aristocratic families, mostly descended from the nobility of pre-Qin states, held significant centralised and regional power. The surname was used as a source of prestige and common allegiance. During the period a large number of genealogical records called pudie were compiled to trace the complex descent lines of clans and their marriage ties to other clans. A large number of these were collected by Ouyang Xiu
in his New History of Tang.
During the Song Dynasty, ordinary clans began to organise themselves into corporate units and produce genealogies. This trend was led by the poet Su Shi
and his father. As competition for resources and positions in the bureaucracy intensified, individuals used their common ancestry and surname to promote solidarity. They established schools to educate their sons and held common lands to aid disadvantaged families. Ancestral temples were also erected to promote surname identity. Clan cohesion was usually encouraged by successive imperial governments since it aided in social stability. During the Qing Dynasty surname associations often undertook extrajudicial roles, providing primitive legal and social security functions. They played important roles in the Chinese diaspora to South-East Asia and elsewhere, providing the infrastructure for the establishment of trading networks. In southern China, however, clans sometimes engaged in armed conflict in competition for land. Of course, clans continued the tradition of tracing their ancestry to the distant past as a matter of prestige. Most of these origin myths, though well established, are spurious.
As a result of the importance of surnames, rules and traditions regarding family and marriage grew increasingly complex. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called "double Liao" surname. The story is that "Chang Yuan-zih of Liao’s in Siluo married the only daughter of Liao San-Jiou-Lang who had no son, and he took the oath that he should be in the name of Liao when alive and should be in the name of Chang after death." In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of the same surname, considered to be closely related. Conversely, in some areas, there are different clans with the same surname which are not considered to be related, but even in these cases surname exogamy
is generally practiced.
Surname identity and solidarity has declined markedly since the 1930s with the decline of Confucianism
and later, the rise of Communism
in Mainland China. During the Cultural Revolution
, surname culture was actively persecuted by the government with the destruction of ancestral temples and genealogies. Moreover, the influx of Western culture and forces of globalisation have also contributed to erode the previous sociological uses of the Chinese surnames.
Top 10 surnames, which together account for about 40% of Chinese people in the world. Many surnames have various ways of romanization
, the following listed spellings include Hanyu Pinyin (first listed), which is the standard in the PRC
, and other commonly used spellings.
Li/Lee 李, Wang/Wong
王, Zhang/Chang/Cheung
張/张, Zhao/Chao/Chiu
趙/赵, Chen/Chan
陳/陈, Yang/Young/Yeung
楊/杨, Wu/Woo/Ng
吳/吴, Liu/Lau
劉/刘, Huang/Wong
黃/黄, Zhou/Chou/Chow/Chau
周
The 11th to 20th common surnames, which together account for more than 30% of Chinese people in the world:
Xu/Hsu/Tsui 徐, Zhu/Chu 朱, Lin/Lam
林, Sun/Suen
孫/孙, Ma
馬/马, Gao/Kao/Ko
高, Hu/Wu
胡, Zheng/Cheng
鄭/郑, Guo/Kuo/Kwok
郭, Xiao/Siu/Hsiao/Siew 蕭/萧/肖
The 21st to 30th common surnames, which together account for about 20% of Chinese people in the world:
Xie/Chia/Cheah/Seah/Hsieh/Cheu/Hsia/Tse 謝, He/Ho 何, Xu/Hsu/Hui 許/许, Song/Soong/Sung 宋, Shen/Shum/Sham
沈, Luo/Lo/Law
羅/罗, Han/Hon
韓/韩, Deng/Teng/Tang
鄧/邓, Liang/Leung
梁, Ye/Yeh/Yip/Ip
葉/叶
The next 15 common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:
Fang/Fong
方, Cui/Tsui/Chui
崔, Cheng/Ching/Tsing
程、Pan/Poon/Pun
潘, Cao/Cho/Tsao
曹, Feng/Fung
馮/冯, Wang/Wong
汪, Cai/Choi
蔡, Yuan/Yuen
袁, Lu/Lo
盧/卢, Tang/Tong
唐, Qian/Chien/Chin
錢/钱, Du/To
杜, Peng/Pang
彭, Lu/Luk
陸/陆
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
and Sinicized
Sinicization
Sinicization, Sinicisation or Sinification, is the linguistic assimilation or cultural assimilation of terms and concepts of the language and culture of China...
Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, and among overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
communities. In ancient times two types of surname
Surname
A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...
s, family names and clan names (氏; pinyin: shì), existed.
The colloquial expressions laobaixing (老百姓; lit. "old hundred surnames"), and bǎixìng (百姓, lit. "hundred surnames") are used in Chinese to mean "ordinary folks", "the people", or "commoners." The Bǎijiāxìng (百家姓) or "the hundred most common surnames
Hundred Family Surnames
The Hundred Family Surnames is a classic Chinese text composed of common surnames in ancient China. The book was composed in the early Song Dynasty. It originally contained 411 surnames, but was later expanded to 504. Of these, 444 are single-character surnames, and 60 are double-character surnames...
" refers to an ancient text documenting Chinese surnames.
Chinese family names are patrilineal
Patrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
, passed from father to children. (In cases of adoption, the adoptee usually also takes the same surname.)
Chinese origin of surnames
Prior to the Warring States PeriodWarring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
(fifth century BC), only the royal family and the aristocratic elite could generally take surnames. Historically there was also difference between xing (姓) and shi (氏). Xing were surnames held by the immediate royal family. They generally are composed of a nü (女, meaning "female") radical which suggests that they originated from matriarchal societies based on maternal lineages. Another hypothesis has been proposed by sinologist Léon Vandermeersch upon observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from the Shang dynasty
Shang Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...
through the Zhou
Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty was a Chinese dynasty that followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty. Although the Zhou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty in Chinese history, the actual political and military control of China by the Ji family lasted only until 771 BC, a period known as...
. The "female" radical seems to appear at the Zhou period next to Shang sinograms
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
indicating an ethnic group or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean "lady of such or such clan". The structure of the xing sinogram could reflect the fact that in the royal court of Zhou, at least in the beginning, only females (wives married into the Zhou family from other clans) were called by their birth clan name, while the men were usually designated by their title or fief.
Prior to the Qin Dynasty
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
(third century BC) China was largely a feudal society. As fiefdoms were divided and subdivided among descendants, so additional sub-surnames known as shi were created to distinguish between different seniority of lineages among the nobles though in theory they shared the same ancestor. In this way, a nobleman would hold a shi and a xing. After the states of China were unified by Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
in 221 BC, surnames gradually devolved to the lower classes and the difference between xing and shi blurred.
Shi surnames, many of which survive to the present day, usually from a/an:
- Xing: These were usually reserved for the central lineage of the royal family, with collateral lineages taking their own shi. Of the six or so common xing, only JiangJiang (surname)Jiang can be a pinyin transliteration of one of several Chinese surnames:#蔣 or 蒋 , Jiǎng #姜, Jiāng , Kang...
(姜) and YaoYao (surname)Yao is one of the most ancient Chinese surnames. It is usually romanised as Yiu in Cantonese. It is ranked 101st in the Hundred Family Surnames, and as the 41st most common surname in Mainland China.- Prominent people :...
(姚) have survived as frequently occurring surnames. - Royal decree by the Emperor, such as Kuang (鄺).
- State name: Many commoners took the name of their state, either to show their continuing allegiance or as a matter of national and ethnic identity. Common examples include Song (宋), WuWu (surname)Wu is the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese surname 吳 , 吴 , which is the tenth most common surname in Mainland China. Several other, less common Chinese surnames with different pronunciations are also transliterated into English as "Wu": 武, 伍, 仵, 烏, 鄔 and 巫...
(吴/吳), ChenChen (surname)Chén or Chan is one of the most common East Asian family names. It ranks as the 5th most common surname in China, as of 2007 and the most common surname in Singapore and Taiwan . Chen is also the most common family name in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hong Kong...
(陈/陳), TanTan (surname)Tan is a Chinese surname. In a 2006 study of the 100 most common Chinese surnames, Tan was found to be the 67th most common. It is also used in Korea, although very rarely.-Origin:Two origins have been suggested for the Tan surname:...
(譚/谭). Not surprisingly, due to the population size of the peasantry, these are some of the most common Chinese surnames. - Name of a fief or place of origin. Fiefdoms were often granted to collateral branches of the aristocracy and it was natural as part of the process of sub-surnaming for their names to be used. An example is Di, Marquis of Ouyangting, whose descendants took the surname Ouyang. There are some two hundred examples of this identified, often of two-character surnames, but few have survived to the present.
- Names of an ancestor: Like the previous example, this was also a common origin with close to 500 or 600 examples, 200 of which are two-character surnames. Often an ancestor's style name would be used. For example, Yuan TaotuYuan TaotuYuan Taotu 轅濤塗 was a nobleman and diplomat of the Spring and Autumn state of Chen. He is regarded as the ancestor of those surnamed Yuan ....
took the second character of his grandfather's style name Boyuan (伯爰) as his surname. Sometimes titles granted to ancestors could also be taken as surnames. - Seniority within the family: In ancient usage, the characters of meng (孟), zhong (仲), shu (叔) and ji (季) were used to denote the first, second, third and fourth eldest sons in a family. These were sometimes adopted as surnames. Of these, Meng is the best known, being the surname of the philosopher MenciusMenciusMencius was a Chinese philosopher who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself.-Life:Mencius, also known by his birth name Meng Ke or Ko, was born in the State of Zou, now forming the territory of the county-level city of Zoucheng , Shandong province, only thirty kilometres ...
. - Occupation: These could arise from both official positions, as in the case of SimaSima (surname)Sima is a Chinese family name. Unlike most single-character Chinese family names, it is one of the rare two-character family names. It is an occupation name, literally meaning "control" "horses" . The surname originated from one of the offices of the Three Excellencies of the Zhou Dynasty...
(司马/司馬), originally akin to "Minister of War". They could also arise from more lowly occupations, as with TaoTao (surname)- List of persons with the surname Tao :* Tao Dayu, television actor* Tao Qian, warlord during the late Han Dynasty* Tao Kan, Jin Dynasty general and governor* Tao Luna, sports shooter* Tao Siju, politician* Terence Tao, Australian mathematician...
(陶), meaning "potter" or WuWu (surname)Wu is the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese surname 吳 , 吴 , which is the tenth most common surname in Mainland China. Several other, less common Chinese surnames with different pronunciations are also transliterated into English as "Wu": 武, 伍, 仵, 烏, 鄔 and 巫...
(巫Wu (shaman)Wu are spirit mediums who have practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing in Chinese traditions dating back over 3,000 years.-The word wu:...
), meaning "shaman". - Ethnic groups: Non-Han Chinese peoples in China sometimes took the name of their ethnic group as surname.
Distribution of surnames
| Province | Surnames |
|---|---|
| Guangdong Guangdong Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province... |
Liang (梁), Luo Luo (surname) Luo or "Lo" refers to the Mandarin romanizations of the Chinese surnames 羅 and 駱... (罗/羅), Kuang (鄺) |
| Guangxi Guangxi Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in... |
Liang (梁), Lu (陆/陸) |
| Fujian Fujian ' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait... |
Zheng (郑/鄭), Lin (林), Xie (謝) |
| Anhui Anhui Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny... |
Wang (汪) |
| Jiangsu Jiangsu ' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name... |
Xu (徐), Zhu (朱) |
| Zhejiang Zhejiang Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital... |
Mao (毛),Shen (沈) |
| Jiangxi Jiangxi ' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to... |
Hu (胡), Liao (廖); |
| Hubei Hubei ' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting... |
Hu (胡) |
| Hunan Hunan ' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting... |
Tan Tan (surname) Tan is a Chinese surname. In a 2006 study of the 100 most common Chinese surnames, Tan was found to be the 67th most common. It is also used in Korea, although very rarely.-Origin:Two origins have been suggested for the Tan surname:... (谭/譚); |
| Sichuan Sichuan ' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu... |
He (何), Deng Deng (surname) Deng is an East Asian surname. It is a transcription of 邓 or 鄧 . It is transliteted as Dèng in pinyin and Teng in Wade-Giles. In Cantonese, it is Dahng in Yale and Dang6 in Jyutping. In Minnan or Taiwanese, it is Tēng in Pe̍h-ōe-jī... (邓/鄧) |
| Guizhou Guizhou ' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the southwestern part of the country. Its provincial capital city is Guiyang.- History :... |
Wu (吴/吳) |
| Yunnan Yunnan Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with... |
Yang (杨/楊) |
| Henan Henan Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan... |
Cheng (程) |
| Gansu Gansu ' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east... |
Gao (高) |
| Ningxia Ningxia Ningxia, formerly transliterated as Ningsia, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Located in Northwest China, on the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River flows through this vast area of land. The Great Wall of China runs along its northeastern boundary... |
Wan (万/萬) |
| Shaanxi Shaanxi ' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province... |
Xue (薛) |
| Qinghai Qinghai Qinghai ; Oirat Mongolian: ; ; Salar:) is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake... |
Bao (鲍/鮑) |
| Xinjiang Xinjiang Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2... |
Ma (马/馬) |
| Shandong Shandong ' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese... |
Kong (孔) |
| Shanxi Shanxi ' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period.... |
Dong (董) and Guo (郭) |
| Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in the northern region of the country. Inner Mongolia shares an international border with the countries of Mongolia and the Russian Federation... |
Pan (潘) |
| Northeast China Northeast China Northeast China, historically known in English as Manchuria, is a geographical region of China, consisting of the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The region is sometimes called the Three Northeast Provinces... |
Yu (于) |
Surnames are not evenly distributed throughout China's geography. In northern China, Wang (王) is the most common surname, being shared by 9.9% of the population. Next are Li (李), Zhang (张/張) and Liu (刘/劉). In the south, Chen (陈/陳) is the most common, being shared by 10.6% of the population. Next are Li (李), Huang (黄), Lin (林) and Zhang (张/張). Around the major crossing points of the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
, the most common surname is Li (李), taking up 7.7%, followed by Wang (王), Zhang (张/張), Chen (陈/陳) and Liu (刘/劉).
A 1987 study showed over 450 family names in common use in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, but there were fewer than 300 family names in Fujian.
A study by geneticist
Geneticist
A geneticist is a biologist who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a researcher or lecturer. Some geneticists perform experiments and analyze data to interpret the inheritance of skills. A geneticist is also a Consultant or...
Yuan Yida
Yuan Yida
Yuan Yida is a researcher from the Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is a leading researcher on Chinese surnames in mainland China, and has been working on statistical studies of surname distribution in the People's Republic of China over the...
has found that of all the people with a particular surname, there tends to be a population concentration in a certain province, as tabled to the right. It does not show, however, the most common surnames in any one province.
The 55th most common family name "Xiao" (肖) appears to be very rare in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. This is explained by the fact Hong Kong uses traditional Chinese character
Traditional Chinese character
Traditional Chinese characters refers to Chinese characters in any character set which does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. It most commonly refers to characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong, or in the Kangxi...
s not simplified Chinese character
Simplified Chinese character
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Xiandai Hanyu Tongyong Zibiao for use in Mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of many standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language...
s. Originally, the surname 蕭 (Xiao) was rather common while the surname 肖 (Xiao) was extremely rare, if not non-existent (it is mentioned only sporadically in historical texts). The first round of simplification in 1956 simplified 蕭 into 萧, keeping 蕭/萧 and 肖 distinct. However the second-round
Second-round simplified Chinese character
The second round of Chinese character simplification, made by official document Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme to introduce second round of simplified Chinese characters, was an aborted orthography reform promulgated on 20 December 1977 by the People's Republic of China...
in 1977, which has long been abolished, merged 萧 and 肖 into 肖. Despite the retraction of the second round, some people have kept 肖 as their surname, so that there are now two separate surnames, 萧 and 肖.
Chén (trad 陳, simp 陈) is perhaps the most common surname in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
(romanized as Chan) and is also common in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
(romanized as Chen). Fang (方), which is only the 47th most common overall, is much more common in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
's Chinatown in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(more often romanized as Fong based on the Cantonese dialect). As with the concentration of family names, this can also be explained statistically, as a person with an uncommon name moving to an unsettled area and leaving his family name to large number of people.
After the Song Dynasty, surname distributions in China largely settled down. The Kuang family for example, migrated from the capital in the north and settled in Guangdong after the revolts of the Song Dynasty. Villages are often made up of a single patrilineage, being individuals with the same surname, often with a common male ancestor. They usually intermarry with others from nearby villages, creating genetic clusters.
Surnames at present
Of the thousands of surnames which have been identified from historical texts prior to the Han DynastyHan Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, most have either been lost (via the Galton–Watson process of extinction of family names) or simplified. Historically there are close to 12,000 surnames recorded, of which only about 3,100 are in current use, a factor of almost 4:1 (about 75%) reduction. In recent centuries some two-character surnames have often dropped a character. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, moreover, some surnames have been graphically simplified.
Although there are thousands of Chinese family names, the 100 most common, which together make up less than 5% of those in existence, are shared by 85% of the population. The three most common surnames in Mainland China are Li
Li (surname)
Li is a common transliteration of several Chinese family names, including 李 , the most common Chinese family name, and the Korean family name Lee...
, Wang
Wang (surname)
Wang is a Chinese family name and one of the most common surnames in the world. It is ranked 8th in the Hundred Family Surnames, and first in the People's Republic of China's National Citizen ID Information System . Wang is ranked as the most common surname in mainland China, with 92.88 million...
and Zhang
Zhang
Zhang may refer to:* Zhang , common Chinese surname* Zhang County , of Dingxi, Gansu* Zhang River , a river flowing mainly in Henan* Zhang, Beijing , town in Shunyi District, Beijing...
, which make up 7.9%, 7.4% and 7.1% respectively. Together they number close to 300 million and are easily the most common surnames in the world. In Chinese, the phrase "three Zhang, four Li" is used to say "just anybody".
In a 1990 study, the top 200 family names accounted for over 96% of a random sample of 174,900 persons, with over 500 other names accounting for the remaining 4%. In a different study (1987), which combined data from Taiwan and mainland China (sample size of 570,000 persons), the top 19 names covered 55.6%, and the top 100 names covered 87% of the sample. Other data suggest that the top 50 names comprise 70% of the population.
Most commonly occurring Chinese family names have only one character; however, about twenty double-character family names
Chinese compound surname
A Chinese compound surname is a Chinese surname using more than one character. Many of these surnames derive from noble and official titles, professions, place names and other areas, to serve for a purpose. Some are originally non-Han, while others were created by joining two one-character family...
have survived into modern times. These include Sima
Sima (surname)
Sima is a Chinese family name. Unlike most single-character Chinese family names, it is one of the rare two-character family names. It is an occupation name, literally meaning "control" "horses" . The surname originated from one of the offices of the Three Excellencies of the Zhou Dynasty...
(司馬, simp. 司马), Zhuge
Zhuge
Zhuge is a Chinese double surname. It is ranked 314th in Hundred Family Surnames. The surname has often been synonymous with wisdom in Chinese culture, due to the fame of Zhuge Liang.-Notable people with the surname Zhuge:*Zhuge Liang**Zhuge Zhan...
(諸葛, simp. 诸葛), Ouyang
Ouyang
Ouyang is one of the most common two-character Chinese compound surnames in the world. However, it is not one of the top two hundred Chinese surnames, as documented by the Language Publication Society, Beijing in 1990...
(歐陽, simp. 欧阳), occasionally romanized as O'Young, suggesting an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
origin to English-speakers), and Situ
Situ
The words situ and situs are Latin for "site" . They also have other meanings .Situ can refer to:* in situ, Latin phrase meaning on-site or in-place...
(or Sito 司徒). There are family names with three or more characters, but those are not ethnically Han Chinese. For example, Aixinjueluo (愛新覺羅, also romanized from the Manchu language
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
as Aisin Gioro
Aisin Gioro
Aisin Gioro was the family name of the Manchu emperors of the Qing Dynasty. The House of Aisin Gioro ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which established a republican government in its place. The word aisin means gold in the Manchu language, and "gioro" is the name of the place in...
), was the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
.
Transliteration
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
of Chinese family names (see List of common Chinese surnames) into foreign languages poses a number of problems. Chinese surnames are shared by people speaking a number of dialects and languages which often have different pronunciations of their surnames. The spread of the Chinese diaspora
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
into all parts of the world resulted in the Romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
of the surnames based on different languages. As a result, it is common for the same surname to be transliterated differently. In certain dialects, different surnames could be homonyms so it is common for family names to appear ambiguous when transliterated. Example: 鄭/郑 (pinyin:Zheng) can be romanised into Chang, Cheng, Chung (which is actually Vietnamese in origin), Teh, Tay, Tee, Tsang, Zeng or Zheng, (in pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
, Chang, Cheng, Zheng and Zeng are all different names). Translating Chinese surnames from foreign transliteration often presents ambiguity. For example, the surname "Li" are all mandarin-based pinyin tranliteration for the surnames 黎 (Lí); 李, 理 and 里 (Lǐ); 郦/酈, 栗, 厉/厲, and 利 (Lì) depending on the tone
Tone (linguistics)
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...
which are often omitted in foreign transliterations.
Examples of variations in romanisation
Due to the different pronunciation and romanisations, it is generally easy to tell whether a Chinese person has origins in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Southeast Asia including SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Malaysia, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. In general people from China will have both their surnames and names in pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
. Those from Taiwan use Wade-Giles
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
romanisation. People from Southeast Asia (mainly Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines) and Hong Kong usually base their romanisation of surnames and names on the Min, Hakka and Cantonese languages. The younger generation from Singapore predominantly have their surname in dialect and given name in English.
There are also people who use non-standard romanisations, e.g. the Hong Kong media mogul 邵逸夫 Run Run Shaw
Run Run Shaw
Sir Run Run Shaw CBE, GBM is a Hong Kong media mogul.-Overview:Sir Run Run Shaw was born in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China in 1907. There has been no official or formal announcement on the exact day and month of his birth. According to A&C Black published Who's Who 2007, Shaw Run Run was born on 14...
's surname 邵 is spelt as Shaw, pinyin: Shao. The use of different systems of romanisation based on different Chinese language variants during the 1900~1970 also contributed to the variations.
E.g.
| Written form | Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into... | Wade-Giles Wade-Giles Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most... | Min Nan Min Nan The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora.... (Hokkien) / Teochew (Malaysia/Singapore) | Cantonese (Hong Kong) | Current meaning (the original meanings of the surnames when created may greatly differ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 陈 / 陳 | Chen | Ch'en | Tan/Tang/Tung | Chan | arrange; exhibit; narrate; tell; aged/old; stale; vintage; to state; to display; to explain |
| 关 / 關 | Guan | Kuan | Kwang/Kuang | Kwan | gate, gateway, mountain pass; to close; to shut; to turn off; to concern; to involve |
| 何 | He | Ho | Ho/Hoe | Ho | carry; what; how; why; which |
| 黃 | Huang | Huang | Uy/Ooi/Oei/Wee/Ng | Wong | sulfur; yellow |
| 简 / 簡 | Jian | Chien | Kan/Kean | Kan/Gan | simple |
| 金 | Jin | Chin | Kim | Kam | gold/golden |
| 林 | Lin | Lin | Lim | Lam | woods; forest |
| 王 | Wang | Wang | Ong/Heng | Wong | king |
| 吴 / 吳 | Wu | Wu | Goh | Ng | Wu (region) Wu (region) Wu is a region in the Jiangnan area , surrounding Suzhou, in Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province of China. It is also the abbreviation of several kingdoms based in Wu. The two largest cities in the Wu region today are Shanghai and Hangzhou... |
| 许 / 許 | Xu | Hsü | Koh/Khoh/Khor/Khaw | Hui/Hua | to allow; to permit; to praise |
| 张 / 張 | Zhang | Chang | Teo/Chong | Cheung | a measure word Measure word In linguistics, measure words are words that are used in combination with a numeral to indicate an amount of some noun. They denote a unit or measurement and are used with nouns that are not countable. For instance, in English, is a mass noun and thus one cannot say *"three muds", but one can say... for flat objects like paper or tables; open up |
| 赵 / 趙 | Zhao | Chao | Chew/Teo | Chiu |
Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia/Philippines: various spellings are used depending on name origin.
See List of common Chinese surnames for the different spellings and more examples.
Sociological use of surnames
Throughout most of Chinese history, surnames have served sociological functions. Because of their association with the aristocratic elite in their early developments, surnames were often used as symbols of nobility. Thus nobles would use their surnames to be able to trace their ancestry and compete for seniority in terms of hereditary rank. Examples of early genealogiesGenealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
among the royalty can be found in Sima Qian
Sima Qian
Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
's Historical Records, which contain tables recording the descent lines of noble houses called shibiao .
Later, during the Han Dynasty, these tables were used by prominent families to glorify themselves and sometimes even to legitimise their political power. For example, Cao Pi
Cao Pi
Cao Pi , formally known as Emperor Wen of Wei, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Born in Qiao County, Pei Commandery , he was the second son of the late Han Dynasty warlord Cao Cao.Cao Pi, like his father, was a poet...
, who forced the abdication of the last Han emperor in his favour, claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
. Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honours. Unlike European practice in which some surnames are obviously noble, Chinese emperors and members of the royal family had regular surnames except in cases where they came from non-Han ethnic groups. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the Mandate of Heaven
Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven is a traditional Chinese philosophical concept concerning the legitimacy of rulers. It is similar to the European concept of the divine right of kings, in that both sought to legitimaze rule from divine approval; however, unlike the divine right of kings, the Mandate of...
and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.
The Tang Dynasty was the last period when the great aristocratic families, mostly descended from the nobility of pre-Qin states, held significant centralised and regional power. The surname was used as a source of prestige and common allegiance. During the period a large number of genealogical records called pudie were compiled to trace the complex descent lines of clans and their marriage ties to other clans. A large number of these were collected by Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu was a Chinese statesman, historian, essayist and poet of the Song Dynasty. He is also known by his courtesy name of Yongshu, and was also self nicknamed The Old Drunkard 醉翁, or Householder of the One of Six 六一居士 in his old age...
in his New History of Tang.
During the Song Dynasty, ordinary clans began to organise themselves into corporate units and produce genealogies. This trend was led by the poet Su Shi
Su Shi
Su Shi , was a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and statesman of the Song Dynasty, and one of the major poets of the Song era. His courtesy name was Zizhan and his pseudonym was Dongpo Jushi , and he is often referred to as Su Dongpo...
and his father. As competition for resources and positions in the bureaucracy intensified, individuals used their common ancestry and surname to promote solidarity. They established schools to educate their sons and held common lands to aid disadvantaged families. Ancestral temples were also erected to promote surname identity. Clan cohesion was usually encouraged by successive imperial governments since it aided in social stability. During the Qing Dynasty surname associations often undertook extrajudicial roles, providing primitive legal and social security functions. They played important roles in the Chinese diaspora to South-East Asia and elsewhere, providing the infrastructure for the establishment of trading networks. In southern China, however, clans sometimes engaged in armed conflict in competition for land. Of course, clans continued the tradition of tracing their ancestry to the distant past as a matter of prestige. Most of these origin myths, though well established, are spurious.
As a result of the importance of surnames, rules and traditions regarding family and marriage grew increasingly complex. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called "double Liao" surname. The story is that "Chang Yuan-zih of Liao’s in Siluo married the only daughter of Liao San-Jiou-Lang who had no son, and he took the oath that he should be in the name of Liao when alive and should be in the name of Chang after death." In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of the same surname, considered to be closely related. Conversely, in some areas, there are different clans with the same surname which are not considered to be related, but even in these cases surname exogamy
Exogamy
Exogamy is a social arrangement where marriage is allowed only outside of a social group. The social groups define the scope and extent of exogamy, and the rules and enforcement mechanisms that ensure its continuity. In social studies, exogamy is viewed as a combination of two related aspects:...
is generally practiced.
Surname identity and solidarity has declined markedly since the 1930s with the decline of Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
and later, the rise of Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
in Mainland China. During the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, surname culture was actively persecuted by the government with the destruction of ancestral temples and genealogies. Moreover, the influx of Western culture and forces of globalisation have also contributed to erode the previous sociological uses of the Chinese surnames.
Common Chinese surnames
According to a study by Li Dongming (李栋明), a Chinese historian, as published in the article "Surname" (姓) in Dongfang Magazine (东方杂志) (1977), the common Chinese surnames are:Top 10 surnames, which together account for about 40% of Chinese people in the world. Many surnames have various ways of romanization
Romanization
In linguistics, romanization or latinization is the representation of a written word or spoken speech with the Roman script, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system . Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written...
, the following listed spellings include Hanyu Pinyin (first listed), which is the standard in the PRC
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, and other commonly used spellings.
Li/Lee 李, Wang/Wong
Wang (surname)
Wang is a Chinese family name and one of the most common surnames in the world. It is ranked 8th in the Hundred Family Surnames, and first in the People's Republic of China's National Citizen ID Information System . Wang is ranked as the most common surname in mainland China, with 92.88 million...
王, Zhang/Chang/Cheung
Zhang (surname)
Zhang is among the most common Chinese surnames. In the 1990 edition of Guinness Book of Records, it was listed as the world's most common surname, with over 100 million people worldwide with this surname. It was also ranked third in the People's Republic of China by the Chinese Academy of...
張/张, Zhao/Chao/Chiu
Zhao (surname)
Zhao / Chao or Chiu is a common Chinese family name, ranking as the 7th most common surname in Mainland China. Zhao is the first surname in the famous Hundred Family Surnames – the traditional list of all Chinese surnames – because it was the royal surname of the Song Dynasty when the list was...
趙/赵, Chen/Chan
Chen (surname)
Chén or Chan is one of the most common East Asian family names. It ranks as the 5th most common surname in China, as of 2007 and the most common surname in Singapore and Taiwan . Chen is also the most common family name in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hong Kong...
陳/陈, Yang/Young/Yeung
Yang (surname)
Yang is the transcription of the Chinese family name 楊 / 杨. It is the sixth most common surname in Mainland China.- Characters :Yang is most often the transliteration of the character 楊 . The same character can also mean a type of poplar...
楊/杨, Wu/Woo/Ng
Wu (surname)
Wu is the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese surname 吳 , 吴 , which is the tenth most common surname in Mainland China. Several other, less common Chinese surnames with different pronunciations are also transliterated into English as "Wu": 武, 伍, 仵, 烏, 鄔 and 巫...
吳/吴, Liu/Lau
Liu
劉 is a common Chinese family name. The transliteration Liu can represent several different surnames written in different Chinese characters:*劉 / 刘, pinyin: Liú...
劉/刘, Huang/Wong
Huang
Huang is a Chinese surname that means "golden yellow", or literally "yellow." While Huáng is the pinyin romanisation of the word, it may also be romanised as Huong, Houang, Hoang, Wong, Hwong, Vong, Hung, Hong, Bong, Eng, Ng, Uy, Wee, Oi, Oei, Oey, or Ooi, Ong, Hwang, or Ung due to pronunciations...
黃/黄, Zhou/Chou/Chow/Chau
Zhou (surname)
Zhōu is the Hanyu Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese family name 周, which now ranks as the 10th most common surname in Mainland China. It has been one of the ten most common surnames in China since the Yuan Dynasty....
周
The 11th to 20th common surnames, which together account for more than 30% of Chinese people in the world:
Xu/Hsu/Tsui 徐, Zhu/Chu 朱, Lin/Lam
Lin (surname)
Lín Lin is the second most common surname in Taiwan at 9% of the population, second only to Chen. In mainland China , Lin is generally less common.-Name origin:...
林, Sun/Suen
Sun (surname)
Sun is a transliteration of a common Chinese surname, written 孫 or 孙 in Chinese characters, sūn in Hanyu pinyin...
孫/孙, Ma
Ma (surname)
Ma is one of the most common Chinese family names. As of 2006, it ranks as the 14th most common Chinese surname in Mainland China and the most common surname within the Chinese Muslim community, specifically the Hui people, Dongxiang people, and Salar people...
馬/马, Gao/Kao/Ko
Gao (surname)
Gao is a Chinese family name. There are approximately 16 million living people with this surname. Some places, such as Taiwan, usually romanize this family name into Kao. In Hong Kong, it is romanized to Ko....
高, Hu/Wu
Hu (surname)
Hu 胡 is a Chinese surname or family name. In 2006, it was the 15th most common surname in China.Some other less-common surnames pronounced Hu include 瓠, 護, 戶, 扈, 虎, 呼, 忽, and 斛.-Words:...
胡, Zheng/Cheng
Zheng (surname)
Zhèng or Cheng is a Chinese family name and is the name of an ancient state in today's Henan. It is written as 鄭 in traditional Chinese script or as 郑 in simplified Chinese script....
鄭/郑, Guo/Kuo/Kwok
Guo
"Guo", written in Chinese: 郭, is one of the most common Chinese surnames and means "the wall that surrounds outside a city" in Chinese; it can also be spelled Cok, Guo, Quo, Quoc, Quach, Quock, Que, Quek, Kuo, Kok, Koc, Kwok, Kuok, Gock or Koay....
郭, Xiao/Siu/Hsiao/Siew 蕭/萧/肖
The 21st to 30th common surnames, which together account for about 20% of Chinese people in the world:
Xie/Chia/Cheah/Seah/Hsieh/Cheu/Hsia/Tse 謝, He/Ho 何, Xu/Hsu/Hui 許/许, Song/Soong/Sung 宋, Shen/Shum/Sham
Shen (surname)
Shen can be a pinyin transliteration of one of several Chinese family names 沈, 申, 慎.-Surname 沈:沈 is the 14th surname in the Hundred Family Surnames text...
沈, Luo/Lo/Law
Luo (surname)
Luo or "Lo" refers to the Mandarin romanizations of the Chinese surnames 羅 and 駱...
羅/罗, Han/Hon
Han (surname)
Han is a common transliteration of the Chinese surname 韩 or 韓 , pronounced Hán, and the Korean surname 한 . The spelling "Han" is based on China's pinyin system and so used throughout Mainland China. Spelling can vary from 'Hon' in Cantonese-speaking areas to 'Hang' in Hainan...
韓/韩, Deng/Teng/Tang
Deng (surname)
Deng is an East Asian surname. It is a transcription of 邓 or 鄧 . It is transliteted as Dèng in pinyin and Teng in Wade-Giles. In Cantonese, it is Dahng in Yale and Dang6 in Jyutping. In Minnan or Taiwanese, it is Tēng in Pe̍h-ōe-jī...
鄧/邓, Liang/Leung
Liang
Liang may refer to:*Liang , a Chinese surname common in Taiwan and southern China.*Liang , one of the states in China of the Spring and Autumn period ....
梁, Ye/Yeh/Yip/Ip
Ye (surname)
Ye is the 42nd most common Chinese surname. The same Chinese character is commonly romanized as Ye in mainland China and Yeh in Taiwan from the Mandarin pronunciation. In Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia, it is usually romanized as Yip or Ip from the Cantonese pronunciation, and Yap or Yeap...
葉/叶
The next 15 common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:
Fang/Fong
Fang (surname)
Fang is the 47th most prevalent Chinese surname. In Chinese, "方", means "square" or "four-sided".Some more uncommon surnames that appear with the same pinyin are "房" and "芳"...
方, Cui/Tsui/Chui
Cui
-People:* Cui, Chinese surname.* César Cui , a Russian composer* Jorge "Cui" Cuello, British historian Oxford University, 1995 Pulitzer Prize winner-Other uses:* Cui , a Peruvian term for the guinea pig, when used as food...
崔, Cheng/Ching/Tsing
Cheng
Cheng can be a transcription of one of several Chinese surnames. Since the syllable Cheng represents different sounds in Hanyu pinyin and the Wade-Giles systems of Chinese romanization, some ambiguity will exist as to which sound is represented by the letters "Cheng" if the romanisation and tone...
程、Pan/Poon/Pun
Pan (surname)
Pan is a family name originated from China. Pan also is often romanized as Poon or Pun. The surname is spelled as Poon or Pun in Hong Kong and Macau, Ban in South Korea and Phan in Vietnam....
潘, Cao/Cho/Tsao
Cao (surname)
Cao is the Pinyin romanization of several Chinese family names, including 曹 Cáo, 操 Cāo, 草 Cǎo along with other possible rarer characters. Using the Wade-Giles system, Tsao is romanized as Ts'ao, also spelled Tsao....
曹, Feng/Fung
Feng
Feng is a Chinese surname. It is reported as the 31st most common Chinese last name in 2006. The character itself, is made up of the character for "Horse" with an ice radical consisting of two strokes to the left that is meant to suggest speed or galloping.- Historical roots :The surname descended...
馮/冯, Wang/Wong
Wang
Wang may refer to:Name:* Wang , one of two surnames with distinct Chinese characters.* Titles in Chinese nobility* A title in Korean nobility* A title in Mongolian nobilityPlaces:* Wang River in Thailand...
汪, Cai/Choi
Cai (surname)
Cài is a Chinese surname that derives from the name of the ancient Cai state. It is regionally more common in China's Fujian Province and in countries settled by ethnic Chinese from that province than in China as a whole...
蔡, Yuan/Yuen
Yuan (surname)
Yuan is a Chinese surname ranked 37th in China by population. In Standard Chinese, the surname is transliterated "Yuán" or "Yüen2" . Regional variants include "Yeu" , "Ion" , "Yuen" , "Oan" , "Won" , and "Viên"...
袁, Lu/Lo
Lu
Lu may refer to any one of the several Chinese surnames that have the same phone. The most common ones with this romanization are 陆 , 鲁 , 卢 and 路 ....
盧/卢, Tang/Tong
Táng (surname)
Tang , is a Chinese surname. The three languages also have the surname with the same character but different pronunciation/romanization . In Korean, it is usually Romanized also as Dang. In Japanese, the surname is often Romanized as To...
唐, Qian/Chien/Chin
Qian
Qian may refer to:*Guizhou, abbreviated as Qián, province of China*Mace , or Qian, one of the Chinese units of measurement, equal to 5g*Qian , the first hexagram of the I Ching*Qian , a Chinese surname...
錢/钱, Du/To
Du (surname)
Du is a Chinese family name. The name is spelled Tu in Taiwan. In Hong Kong it is translated as To, the pronunciation of 杜 in Cantonese. The Vietnamese equivalent surname is Đỗ....
杜, Peng/Pang
Peng (surname)
Peng is a common Chinese family name, ranking 35th most common in 2006. Alternate Romanizations include Pang , Phang and Bành ....
彭, Lu/Luk
Lu
Lu may refer to any one of the several Chinese surnames that have the same phone. The most common ones with this romanization are 陆 , 鲁 , 卢 and 路 ....
陸/陆
See also
- Chinese clanChinese clanA Chinese clan is a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor and, in many cases, an ancestral home.-Description:...
- Chinese compound surnameChinese compound surnameA Chinese compound surname is a Chinese surname using more than one character. Many of these surnames derive from noble and official titles, professions, place names and other areas, to serve for a purpose. Some are originally non-Han, while others were created by joining two one-character family...
- Chinese given nameChinese given nameChinese given names are generally made up of one or two characters, and are written after the family name, therefore "John-Paul Smith" as a Chinese name would be read "Smith John-Paul". Chinese names can consist of any character and contain almost any meaning...
- Chinese style nameChinese style nameA Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
- Generation nameGeneration nameGeneration name, variously zibei or banci, is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese name, and is so called because each member of a generation share that character, unlike surnames or given names...
- Hundred Family SurnamesHundred Family SurnamesThe Hundred Family Surnames is a classic Chinese text composed of common surnames in ancient China. The book was composed in the early Song Dynasty. It originally contained 411 surnames, but was later expanded to 504. Of these, 444 are single-character surnames, and 60 are double-character surnames...
- Japanese nameJapanese namein modern times usually consist of a family name , followed by a given name. "Middle names" are not generally used.Japanese names are usually written in kanji, which are characters of usually Chinese origin in Japanese pronunciation...
- Korean nameKorean nameA Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, 'ireum' or 'seong-myeong' usually refers to the family name and given name together...
- List of common Chinese surnames
- Naming laws in the People's Republic of ChinaNaming laws in the People's Republic of ChinaNaming laws in the People's Republic of China are based on technical capability rather than the appropriateness of words Naming laws in the People's Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau, as well as the Republic of China situated on the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu) are...
- Vietnamese nameVietnamese nameVietnamese names generally consist of three parts: a family name, a middle name, and a given name, used in that order. The "family name first" order follows the system of Chinese names and is common throughout the Sinosphere , but is different from Chinese, Korean, and Japanese names in having a...