The following is a list of the most common Chinese surname

Chinese surname

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 surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...

s amongst the ethnic Chinese

Chinese in Singapore

Chinese Singaporeans are people of Chinese ethnicity who hold Singaporean nationality. As of 2010, Chinese Singaporeans constitute 74.1% of Singapore's resident population, or approximately three out of four Singaporeans, making them the largest ethnic group in Singapore...

 population in Singapore

Singapore

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...

 in the year 2000. Surnames are listed according to their romanised forms in different varieties of Chinese

Varieties of Chinese

Chinese comprises many regional language varieties sometimes grouped together as the Chinese dialects, the primary ones being Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, and Min. These are not mutually intelligible, and even many of the regional varieties are themselves composed of a number of...

, hence similar surnames may be listed more than once despite representing the same Chinese character

Chinese character

Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...

. For example, one single surname character, 陈 (Chén 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...

), is 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:...

 in Hokkien and Chan in Cantonese, yet appears as two entries here. On the other hand, Wong

Wong (surname)

Wong is the Cantonese romanization of two common Chinese surnames; Huang and Wang .The logograph for Wong / Huang consists of the radical characters for "twenty", "fires" and "fields," all representing the colour of these images combined.As a result of late 17th to 18th century colonial...

 can refer to the characters 王, 汪 or 黄 depending on the variety of Chinese, but are listed as a single entry. As Statistics Singapore notes, "Anglicised surnames have acquired their own unique connotative identity.

Surname			Number	% of Chinese population Chinese in Singapore Chinese Singaporeans are people of Chinese ethnicity who hold Singaporean nationality. As of 2010, Chinese Singaporeans constitute 74.1% of Singapore's resident population, or approximately three out of four Singaporeans, making them the largest ethnic group in Singapore...
Written form	Chinese character Chinese character Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...	Mandarin (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... )
Tan	陈	Chén 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...	237,800	9.5
Lim	林	Lín 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:...	166,000	6.6
Lee Lee (surname) This is a list of persons with the surname Lee.-A:* Alan Lee , Irish footballer for Crystal Palace F.C.* Albert Lee, English guitarist* Amy Lee, American singer...	李	Lǐ 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...	112,600	4.5
Ng Ng Ng is a Cantonese and Hakka transliteration of the Chinese surnames 吳/吴 and 伍 , and Hokkien and Teochew transliteration of the Chinese surname 黃 . It is pronounced , and 伍 means "five." It is sometimes romanized as Ang, Eng, Ing and Ong in the United States and Ung in Australia...	黄, 吴 or 伍	Huáng 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... , Wú 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...  or Wŭ 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...	106,200	4.2
Ong	王 or 汪	Wáng or Wāng 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...	66,700	2.7
Wong Wong (surname) Wong is the Cantonese romanization of two common Chinese surnames; Huang and Wang .The logograph for Wong / Huang consists of the radical characters for "twenty", "fires" and "fields," all representing the colour of these images combined.As a result of late 17th to 18th century colonial...	王, 汪 or 黄	Wáng, Wāng 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... , or Huáng 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...	65,000	2.6
Goh	吴	Wú 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...	56,200	2.2
Chua	蔡	Cài 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...	54,600	2.2
Chan	陈 or 曾	Chén 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...  or Zēng	48,400	1.9
Koh	许	Xǔ	48,100	1.9
Teo	张	Zhāng 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...	46,800	1.9
Ang	洪	Hóng	43,600	1.7
Yeo	杨	Yáng 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...	36,600	1.5
Tay	郑	Zhèng 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....	35,800	1.4
Ho	何	Hé Ho (surname) He or Ho is the Romanised transliteration of several Chinese family names.Of these family names, 何 is the most common at 21st and 贺 is the second most common at 71st in the list of the top 100 most common Chinese family names...	35,000	1.4
Low	刘	Liú	31,600	1.3
Toh	杜 or 卓	Dù 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....  or Zhuō	25,300	1.0
Sim	沈	Shěn Shen Shen can refer to:* Shen , a central word in Chinese philosophy, religion, terms for God, and Traditional Chinese Medicine* Shen , a shapeshifting Chinese dragon believed to create mirages...	23,800	0.9
Chong	庄 or 张	Zhuāng Zhuang (surname) Zhuang is a Chinese surname. It ranked 73rd by population in a 1990 study of 174,900 samples but dropped out of the top 100 in a 2006 study, which included 296 million samples ....  or Zhāng 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...	23,100	0.9
Chia	谢	Xiè	22,600	0.9