Chinese surname

Chinese surnamesare used byHan ChineseandSinicizedethnic groups inGreater China,Korea,Vietnamand amongoverseas Chinesecommunities around the world such asSingaporeandMalaysia.WrittenChinese namesbegin with surnames, unlike theWestern traditionin which surnames are written last. Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but the great proportion of Han Chinese people use only a relatively small number of these surnames; 19 surnames are used by around half of the Han Chinese people, while 100 surnames are used by around 87% of the population.A report in 2019 gives themost common Chinese surnamesasWangandLi,each shared by over 100 million people in China.The remaining eight of the top ten most common Chinese surnames areZhang,Liu,Chen,Yang,Huang,Zhao,WuandZhou.

Two distinct types of Chinese surnames existed in ancient China, namelyxing(Chinese:Tính;pinyin:xìng) ancestral clan names andshi(Chinese:Thị;pinyin:shì) branch lineage names. Later, the two terms began to be used interchangeably, and in the present day,xingrefers to the surname andshimay refer either the clan or maiden name. The two terms may also be used together asxingshifor family names or surnames. Most Chinese surnames (xing) in current use were originallyshi.The earliestxingsurname might bematrilinear,but Han Chinese family name has been exclusivelypatrilinealfor a couple of millennia, passing from father to children. This system of patrilineal surnames is unusual in the world in its long period of continuity and depth ofwritten history,and Chinese people may view their surnames as part of their shared kinship and Han Chinese identity.Women do not normally change their surnames upon marriage, except sometimes in places with more western influences such asHong Kong.Traditionally Chinese surnames have beenexogamousin that people tend to marry those with different surnames.

The most common Chinese surnames were compiled in theSong dynastyworkHundred Family Surnames,which lists over 400 names. The colloquial expressionslǎobǎixìng( lão bách tính; lit. "old hundred surnames" ) andbǎixìng(BáchTính,lit. "hundred surnames" ) are used in Chinese to mean "ordinary folks", "the people", or "commoners".

History

Chinese surnames have a history of over 3,000 years. Chinese mythology, however, reaches back further to the legendary figureFuxi(with the surname Feng), who was said to have established the system of Chinese surnames to distinguish different families and prevent marriage of people with the same family names.Prior to theWarring States period(fifth century BC), only the ruling families and the aristocratic elite had surnames. Historically there was a difference between ancestral clan names orxing(Tính) and branch lineage names orshi(Thị).Xingmay be the more ancient surname that referred to the ancestral tribe or clan, whileshidenoted a branch of the tribe or clan. For example, the ancestors of theShanghadZi( tử ) asxing,but the descendants were subdivided into numerousshiincludingYin( ân ),Song( tống ), Kong ( không ),Tong( đồng ) and others.The distinction between the two began to be blurred by theWarring States period.During theQin dynasty,name usage was standardised, commoners started to acquire a surname orxing,and theshialso becamexing.By theHan dynasty,families only hadxingorxing-shi.The great majority of Han Chinese surnames (now calledxingorxingshi) that survive to modern times have their roots inshirather than the ancientxing.

In modern usage,xingis the surname, but the wordshisurvives as a word to refer to the clan. The termshimay be appended to the surname of a person; for example, a man with the Zhang surname may be referred to respectfully as Zhang-shiinstead of his full name. It is used in particular for the paternal surname of a married woman, therefore in this caseshimeansmaiden name,which a Chinese woman would continue to use after marriage.

Xing

The character forxingwith the female radical nữ in red

The ancientxingwere surnames held by thenoble clans.They generally contain a "female" (Chinese:Nữ;pinyin:nǚ)radical,for exampleJi(Cơ),Jiang(Khương),Yao(Diêu) andYíng(Doanh). This is taken as evidence that they originated frommatriarchalsocieties based onmaternal lineages.The character forxingitself is composed of a female radical and the character for "give birth" ( sinh,shēng).Xingis believed to have been originally transmitted through women of noble birth, while noble men haveshi.

Scholars such asEdwin G. Pulleyblank,however, are unconvinced by the matriarchy theory of Chinese surnames due to a lack of independent evidence. An alternative hypothesis has been proposed, suggesting that the use of female radical inxingmay have arisen from the clanexogamysystem used during theZhou dynasty(the wordsxingandshialso did not exist in the Shang dynastyoracle bones). In ancient times, people of the samexingwere not permitted to marry each other and a woman married into an aristocratic clan needed to be of a different name.Based on observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from theShang dynastythrough theZhou:the nữ radical seems to appear during the Zhou period next to Shangsinogramsindicating a clan or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean "lady of such or such clan". The structure of thexingsinogram 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.

While people of the samexingwere not permitted to marry each other, those with the sameshican. By the Han dynasty when everyone hadxingand the surname was transmitted paternally, the practice continued, but it had changed to marriage between families of men on the paternal side being prohibited, but not on the maternal side.

Shi

Prior to theQin dynasty(3rd century BC), China was largely afengjian(feudal) society. As fiefdoms were divided and subdivided among descendants, so additional sub-surnames known asshiwere created to distinguish between noble lineages according to seniority, though in theory they shared the same ancestor. In this way, a nobleman would hold ashiand axing.Xing,however, was more important thanshi.

The difference betweenxingandshibecame blurred in theSpring and Autumn periodstarting with women. For example:Chunqiureferred to Duke Xuan ofLu's consort Lady Mujiang ( mục khương ), who bore the clan name ( tính,xing) Jiang, asJiangshiKhương thị, "[lady of the] Jiangshi"(!).

After the states of China were unified byQin Shi Huangin 221 BC, surnames gradually spread to the lower classes. Most surnames that survive to the present day were originallyshi.

Origins of Chinese surnames

According to the chapter on surnames in the Han dynasty workFengsu Tong– Xingshi Pian( phong tục thông tính thị thiên ), there are 9 origins of Chinese surnames: dynasty names, posthumous titles, ranks of nobility, state names, official positions, style names, places of residence, occupations, and events.Modern scholars such asKiang Kang-Huproposed that there are 18 sources from which Chinese surnames may be derived,while others suggested at least 24.These may be names associated with a ruling dynasty such as the various titles and names of rulers, nobility and dynasty, or they may be place names of various territories, districts, towns, villages, and specific locations, the title of official posts or occupations, or names of objects, or they may be derived from the names of family members or clans, and in a few cases, names of contempt given by a ruler.

The following are some of the common sources:

1. Xing:These were usually reserved for the central lineage of the ancient royal family, with collateral lineages taking their ownshi.The traditional description was what were known as the "Eight GreatXings of High Antiquity "(ThượngCổBátĐạiTính), namelyJiāng(Khương),Jī(Cơ),Yáo(Diêu),Yíng(Doanh),Sì(Tự), Yún (Vân),Guī(Quỳ) and Rèn (Nhâm), though some sources quoteJí(Cật) as the last one instead of Rèn. Of thesexing,only Jiang and Yao have survived in their original form to modern days as frequently occurring surnames.
2. State name:Many nobles and commoners took the name of their state, either to show their continuing allegiance or as a matter of national and ethnic identity. These are some of the most common Chinese surnames in the present day such asWú(Ngô,9th most common),Zhōu(Chu,10th most common)
3. 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 Ouyang Village, whose descendants took the surnameOuyang(Âu dương). There are some two hundred examples of this identified, often oftwo-character surnames,but few have survived to the present. Some families acquired their surname during the Han dynasty from theCommanderythey resided in.
4. 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'scourtesy namewould be used. For example,Yuan Taotutook the second character of his grandfather's courtesy name Boyuan (BáViên) as his surname. Sometimes titles granted to ancestors could also be taken as surnames.
5. Seniority within the family:In ancient usage, the characterszhong(Trọng),shu(Thúc) andji(Quý) were used to denote the second, third and fourth (or last) eldest sons in a family. For the first sonmeng(Mạnh) was meant for a child born to a secondary wife or a concubine, whileboBáindicated a child born to the primary wife. These were sometimes adopted as surnames. Of these, Meng is the best known, being the surname of the philosopherMencius.
6. Official positions,such asShǐ(Sử,"historian" ),Jí(Tịch,"royal librarian" ),Líng(Lăng,"ice master" ), Cāng (Thương,"granary manager" ), Kù (Khố,"store manager" ), Jiàn (Gián,"adviser"), Shàngguān (Thượng quan,"high official" ),Tàishǐ(Thái sử,"grand historian" ), Zhōngháng (Trung hành,"commander of middlecolumn"), Yuèzhèng (Nhạc chính,"chief musician" ), and in the case ofShang's "Five Officials" (Ngũ quan), namelySīmǎ(Tư mã,"minister of horses", akin todefence minister),Sītú(Tư đồ,"minister of the masses",akin to treasurer), Sīkōng (Tư không,"minister of works", akin to minister of infrastructure), Sīshì (Tư sĩ,"minister ofyeomen",akin to chiefombudsman) and Sīkòu (Tư khấu,"minister of bandits", akin toattorney general);
7. General occupations,as withTáo(Đào,"potter"),Tú(Đồ,"butcher" ),Bǔ(Bặc,"diviner"), Jiàng (Tượng,"craftsman"),Wū(Vu,"shaman") and Chú (Trù,"cook" ).
8. Titles of nobility,such asWáng(Vương,"king" ),Hóu(Hầu,"marquis" ),Xiàhóu(Hạ hầu,"MarquisofXia") andGōngsūn(Công tôn,"Duke's grandchild" )
9. Royal decree by the Emperor,such asKuang(Quảng), bestowed amongst other gifts to Kuang Yuping, previously Fang Yuping ( phương dũ bình ), byEmperor Xiaozong of Song,upon making Yuping's daughter an imperial concubine.
10. Ethnic and religious groups:Non-Han Chinese peoples in Chinasometimes took the name of their ethnic groups assinicizedsurnames, such asHú(Hồ,"barbarian" ),Jīn(Kim,"Jurchen"), Mǎn (Mãn,"Manchu"),Dí(Địch,"Di people"), Huí (Hồi,"Hui people") andMùróng(Mộ dung,aXianbeitribe). ManyHui Muslimsadopted thesurname Ma(Mã), an old Chinese surname, when they were required to use Chinese surnames during the Ming dynasty as it sounded close to the first syllable ofMohammad;it was also fitting for some of those who were caravaneers as the word means "horse".

Many also changed their surnames throughout history for a number of reasons.

• A ruler may bestow his own surname on those he considered to have given outstanding service to him; for example, the surnameLiu(Lưu) was granted by emperors in theHan dynasty,Li(Lý) during the Tang dynasty, andZhao(Triệu) from theSong dynasty.
• Others, however, may avoid using the name of a ruler, for example Shi (Sư) was changed toShuai(Soái) toavoid conflictwith the name ofSima Shi.Others may modify their name in order to escape from their enemies at times of turmoil, for example Duanmu (Đoan mộc) to Mu (MộcandMộc), and Gong (Cộng) toGong(Cung).
• The name may also be changed by simplification of the writing, e.g. Mu (Mạc) toMo(Mạc), or reducing from double or multiple character names to single character names, e.g. Duangan (Đoạn càn) to Duan (Đoạn).
• It may also have occurred through error, or changed due to a dissatisfaction with the name (e.g. AiAi,"sorrow", to ZhongTrung,"heartfelt feeling" ).

Usage

Chinese surnames or family names are writtenbeforethe first name orgiven name.Therefore, someone named Wei (Vĩ) from theZhang(Trương) family is called "Zhang Wei" (Trương vĩ) and not "Wei Zhang". Chinese women generally retain their maiden name and use their name unchanged after marriage, but in modern times in some communities, some women may choose to attach their husband's surname to the front.Chinese surname ispatrilinearwhere the father's surname is passed on to his children, but more recently some people have opted to use both parents' surnames; although this practice has increased in recent times, it is still relatively uncommon in China, with those who adopted both parents' surnames numbering at only 1.1 million in 2018 (up from 118,000 in 1990).

Some Chinese outside of mainland China, particularly those from the Chinese immigrant communities around the world and those who have acquired a Christian or Western first name, have adopted the Western convention when giving their name in English, placing their surname last. Examples of those commonly known in the West includeJackie Chan(Chinese name Chan Kong-sang),Jimmy Choo(Chinese name Choo Yeang Keat), andYo-Yo Ma.Those with a Western first name can write their name in English in various ways – some may add the Western first name in front and the Chinese given name last (the surname is therefore in the middle), or fully Westernised with both the Western and Chinese given names before the Chinese surname.Examples includeCarrie Lam,originally named Cheng Yuet-ngor (Cheng is the surname), but who has acquired her husband's surname Lam and a Western first name as Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

Due to the different spelling conventions and dialects as well as the different spelling preferences in the various countries these Chinese find themselves in, many people of the same Chinese surname can appear differently when written in English, for example theLin surname( lâm ) may also appear as Lam (Cantonese) or Lim (Hokkien). Some Chinese surnames that appear to be the same written in English may also be different in Chinese due to different characters having the same or similar pronunciations, dialectal differences, or non-standard romanizations (see section on variation in romanization below).

Distribution of surnames

Regions with high concentration of particular surnames
Region	Surnames
Liaoning	Zhang( trương / trương ),Jiang( giang )
Guangdong	Liang/Leung( lương ),Luo( la / la ),Kuang( quảng / quảng ), Chan/Chen( trần / trần ),Huang/Wong( hoàng / hoàng )
Guangxi	Liang ( lương ),Lu( lục / lục ),Zhang/Chong( chương ),Huang( hoàng / hoàng )
Fujian	Zheng( trịnh / trịnh ),Lin( lâm ),Huang( hoàng / hoàng ),Xǔ( hứa / hứa ),Xie( tạ / tạ ),
Hainan	Fú( phù )
Anhui	Wang( uông )
Jiangsu	Xú( từ ),Zhu( chu )
Shanghai	Wang( vương ),Yang( dương / dương )
Zhejiang	Mao( mao ),Shen( thẩm )
Jiangxi	Hu( hồ )
Hubei	Hu ( hồ )
Hunan	Tan/Tom( đàm / đàm ),Huang( hoàng / hoàng )
Sichuan	He( hà ),Deng( đặng / đặng )
Guizhou	Wu( ngô / ngô )
Yunnan	Yang( dương / dương )
Henan	Cheng( trình )
Gansu	Gao( cao )
Ningxia	Wan( vạn / vạn )
Shaanxi	Xue( tiết )
Qinghai	Bao( bào / bào )
Xinjiang	Ma( mã / mã )
Shandong	Kong( khổng )
Shanxi	Dong( đổng ) andGuo( quách )
Inner Mongolia	Pan( phan )
Northeast China	Yu( vu )

Surnames are not evenly distributed throughout China's geography. In northern China, Wáng (Vương) is the most common surname, being shared by 9.9% of the population. Next are Lǐ (Lý), Zhāng (Trương/Trương) and Liú (Lưu/Lưu). In the south, Chén (Trần/Trần) is the most common, being shared by 10.6% of the population. Next are Lǐ ( lý ), Huáng (Hoàng/Hoàng), Lín (Lâm) and Zhāng ( trương / trương ). Around the major crossing points of theYangzi River,the most common surname is Lĭ ( lý ), taking up 7.7%, followed by Wáng ( vương ), Zhāng ( trương / trương ), Chan/Chén ( trần / trần ) and Liú ( lưu / lưu ).

A 1987 study showed over 450 family names in common use in Beijing, but there were fewer than 300 family names inFujian.Furthermore, a 2012 study found that there was the lowest amount ofisonymyin surnames among the population around middle and lower reaches ofYangtze Riverboth on the provincial and county levels.Additionally, it was found that counties with the highest values of isonymy were distributed in the provinces with high proportions of ethnic minorities. According to thedendrogramof surname distances, several clusters could be identified. Most provinces in a cluster were conterminous with one another. The one exception to this pattern could be explained bydemicmigration observed where the Han Chinese migrated toNortheastern China.

A study bygeneticistYuan Yidahas found that of all the people with a particular surname, there tends to be a population concentration in a certain province,as tabulated to the right. It does not show, however, the most common surnames in any one province.

The 55th most common family name "Xiào" (Tiêu) appears to be very rare in Hong Kong. This is explained by the fact Hong Kong usestraditional Chinese charactersrather thansimplified Chinese characters.Originally, the surnameTiêu(Xiāo) was rather common while the surname tiêu (Xiào) was extremely rare, if not non-existent (it is mentioned only sporadically in historical texts). The first round of simplification in 1956 simplified tiêu intoTiêu,keeping tiêu / tiêu and tiêu distinct. However thesecond-roundin 1977, which has long been abolished, merged tiêu and tiêu into tiêu. Despite the retraction of the second round, some people have kept tiêu as their surname, so that there are now two separate surnames, tiêu and tiêu.

Chén (Trần/Trần) is perhaps the most common surname inHong KongandMacau,where it is romanized as Chan. It is themost common Chinese surnameinSingapore,where it is usually romanized as Tan, and is also common inTaiwan,where it is romanized as Chén.

Fāng (Phương), which is only the 47th most common overall, is much more common in San Francisco's Chinatown in the United States, although the surname is more often than not romanized as Fong, as based on theYuedialect. 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 descendants.

After theSong dynasty,surname distributions in China largely settled down.TheKuàng(Quảng/Quảng) family, for example, migrated from the northern capital and settled inGuangdongafter the Song dynasty revolts.Villages are often made up of a singlepatrilineagewith individuals having 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 modern era, most have either been lost (seeextinction of family names) or simplified. Historically there are close to 12,000 surnames recorded including those from non-Han Chinese ethnic groups, of which only about 3,100 are in current use,a factor of almost 4:1 (about 75%) reduction. A 2019 figure however put the total number of Chinese family names at 6,150.Of Han Chinese surnames, the largest number ever recorded was 6,363 (3,730 single-character surnames, 2,633 multiple-character surnames), around 2,000 of which are still in use.Chinese Surname extinction is due to various factors, such as people taking the names of their rulers, orthographic simplifications, taboos against using characters from an emperor's name, and others. A recent example of near surname extinction is the rare surname Shan (𢒉).The character may not be displayed on computer systems used by government officials, and people born after the system change as well as people who want to avoid possible problems changed their name to another character such as Xian ( tiển ). The name is still used by the older people, but some people from the village are concerned that future generations will forget their name origin.

While new names have arisen for various reasons, this has been outweighed by old names disappearing. The most significant factor affecting the surname frequency is other ethnic groups identifying as Han and adopting Han names.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, the100most 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 areLi,WangandZhang,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 "third son of Zhang, fourth son of Li" (Chinese:TrươngTamLýTứ;pinyin:Zhāng sān Lǐ sì) is used to mean "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 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 twentydouble-character family nameshave survived into modern times. These includeSima(TưMã,simp.TưMã),Zhuge(ChưCát,simp.ChưCát),Ouyang(ÂuDương,simp.ÂuDương), occasionally romanized asO'Young,suggesting an Irish origin to English-speakers, andSitu(or SitoTưĐồ). Sima, Zhuge, and Ouyang also happen to be the surnames of four extremely famous premodern Chinese historical figures. There are family names with three or more characters, but usually those are not ethnically Han Chinese. For example, Aixinjueluo (ÁiTânGiácLa,also romanized from theManchu languageasAisin Gioro), was the family name of theManchuroyal family of theQing dynasty.The longest recorded surname written usinghanzicharacters is Lunalouyugumuzheshuduotumuku'adebu'axi (Chinese:Lỗ nạp lâu vu cổ mẫu già thục đa thổ mẫu khổ a đức bổ a hỉ;pinyin:Lǔnàlóuyúgǔmǔzhēshúduōtǔmǔkǔ'ādébǔ'āxǐ), an extremely rare surname reportedly used by members of theYi ethnic groupinYunnanprovince, with seventeen characters in total.

Variations in romanization

Transliteration of Chinesefamily names (seeList 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 theChinese diasporainto all parts of the world resulted in theRomanizationof the surnames based on different languages and Chinese dialects. Countries that have adopted the system of Chinese surnames such as Vietnam and Korea also spell them according to their own pronunciations. As a result, it is common for the same surname to betranscribeddifferently. For example, theChen ( trần ) surnamecan appear as Chan (Cantonese,e.g.Jackie Chan), Tan (Hokkien), Tang (Teochew), Chin (Hakka), Trần (Vietnamese) and others; theLi ( lý ) surnamemay appear as Lee (an example isLee Kuan Yew), theZhou ( chu ) surnamecan appear as Chou, Chew, Jew and many others (e.g.Wakin ChauandJimmy Choo); while theZheng surname( trịnh / trịnh ) can be romanized into Chang, Cheng, Chung, Teh, Tay, Tee, Tsang, Zeng or Zheng (inpinyin,Chang, Cheng, Zheng and Zeng are all different names). In certain dialects, different surnames could behomonymsso it is common for family names to appear ambiguous when transliterated. Translating Chinese surnames from foreign transliteration often presents ambiguity. For example, the surname "Li"are all Mandarin-based pinyin transliteration for the surnames Lí (Lê); Lǐ (Lý,Lý and lí ); and Lì (Lệ / lệ,Lật,Lệ / lệ,andLợi) depending on thetonewhich is usually omitted in foreign transliterations.

Due to the different pronunciations and romanizations, it is sometimes easy to tell whether a Chinese person has origins in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, or Taiwan. Generally, people of Mainland descent will have their surnames and names inpinyin.Those from Taiwan useWade-Gilesromanization. People from Southeast Asia (mainly Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines) and Hong Kong usually base their romanization of surnames and names on theMin,HakkaandCantoneselanguages. The younger generation from Singapore often has their surname in dialect ((Hokkien, Teochew, Hainanese, Cantonese, and Hakka) and given names in English, Mandarin, or both.

Some people use non-standard romanizations, e.g. the Hong Kongmedia mogulThiệu dật phuRun Run Shaw's surname thiệu is spelt as Shaw (Shao in pinyin).

The use of different systems of romanization based on different Chinese language variants from 1900~1970 also contributed to the variations.

Some examples:

Written form	Pinyin (Mainland China)	Wade-Giles (Taiwan)	Hokkien/Teochew/Hakka (Indonesia/Malaysia/Singapore/Philippines)	Cantonese (Hong Kong/Macau/Singapore/Malaysia)	Surname meaning / origin (some surnames have multiple origins, provided below are only one of many)
Trần / trần	Chen	Ch'en	Tan / Tan,Tang / Chin	Chan	Vintage,State of Chen
Quan / quan	Guan	Kuan	Kwang,Kuang / Kweng,Kueng / Kan	Kwan	gate, gateway, mountain pass, originated as a title for guards in mountain passes
Hà	He	Ho	Ho,Hoe,Hoh /Ho / Ho	Ho	carry; what; how; why; which,Han( hàn ) misheard as He( hà ) inJianghuaiDialect
Hoàng / hoàng	Huang	Huang	Ng,Uy,Ooi,Oei,Wee / Ng,Uy,Ooi,Oei,Wee / Wong,Bong	Wong	Yellow,State of Huang
Giản / giản	Jian	Chien	Kan / Kam,Kang / Kan	Kan/Gan	Simple, descendants ofState of Jindoctor Xu Jianbo ( tục giản bá )
Kim	Jin	Chin	Kim / Kim / Kim	Kam	Gold, one of the five phases (metal) inWuxingPhilosophy
Lâm	Lin	Lin	Lim / Lim / Lim	Lam	Forest, Quan, son ofBi Ganwas born in the woods during his family's exile, thus bestowed byWu of Zhouwith the surname Lin
Vương	Wang	Wang	Ong / Heng / Wung / Wong	Wong	King or Prince, Used mainly by descendants of royalties
Ngô / ngô	Wu	Wu	Goh,Go / Goh / Ng	Ng	State of Wu
Hứa / hứa	Xu	Hsü	Koh,Kho,Ko,Khaw,Khor / Koh,Kho,Ko,Khaw,Khor / Hee,See	Hui/Hua	To allow, State of Xu
Trương / trương	Zhang	Chang/Zhang	Teo,Teow,Teoh,Tieu,Tiew / Teo,Teow,Teoh / Chong	Cheung/Cheong	Verb, to draw abow,surname bestowed upon fletchers by theYellow Emperor
Triệu / triệu	Zhao	Chao	Teow,Teo / Teh,Tay,Tey / Chao	Chiu/Chiew	State of Zhao

Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia/Philippines: various spellings are used depending on name origin.

SeeList of common Chinese surnamesfor the different spellings and more examples.

Sociological use of surnames

Many village names in China are linked to surnames. Pictured is Jiajiayuan ( giả gia nguyên ), i.e. "Jia Family's Spring ", in Honggang Town,Tongshan County, Hubei

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 earlygenealogiesamong the royalty can be found inSima Qian'sHistorical Records,which contain tables recording the descent lines of noble houses calledshibiao(Chinese:Thế biểu;pinyin:shìbiǎo).

Later, during the Han dynasty, these tables were used by prominent families to glorify themselves and sometimes even to legitimize their political power. For example,Cao Pi,who forced the abdication of the last Han emperor in his favor, claimed descent from theYellow Emperor.Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honors. 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 theMandate of Heavenand 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 centralized and regional power. The surname was used as a source of prestige and common allegiance. During the period many genealogical records calledpudie(simplified Chinese:Phổ điệp;traditional Chinese:Phổ điệp;pinyin:pǔdié) were compiled to trace the complex descent lines of families or clans and their marriage ties to other families or clans. Many of these were collected byOuyang Xiuin hisNew History of Tang.To differentiate between different surnames, the Tang also choronyms before stating beforehand, for example Lǒngxī Lǐshì lũng tây lý thị, meaning Li of Longxi. These were generally the names of commanderies used prior to the reorganization during the Tang, so that they became exclusively associated to clans as their common use had died out. Cadet branches were also listed for further differentiation, such as Gūzāng Fáng cô tang phòng, meaning Clan Li of Guzang.

During the Song dynasty, ordinary clans began to organize themselves into corporate units and produce genealogies. This trend was led by the poetSu Shiand 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. 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 surnameexogamyis generally practiced.

Surname identity and solidarity has declined markedly since the 1930s with the decline ofConfucianismand later, the rise ofCommunismin Mainland China. During theCultural 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 ofglobalizationhave also contributed to erode the previous sociological uses of the Chinese surnames.

Common Chinese surnames

Mainland China

For a more comprehensive list, seeList of common Chinese surnames.

See also:Sizes of the 20 largest Chinese surnames(2018)

According to a comprehensive survey ofresidential permitsreleased by theChineseMinistry of Public Securityon 24 April 2007,the ten most common surnames in mainland China areWang( vương ),Li( lý ),Zhang( trương ),Liu( lưu ),Chen( trần ),Yang( dương ),Huang( hoàng ),Zhao( triệu ),Wu( ngô ), andZhou( chu ). The same names were also found (in slightly different orders) by a fairly comprehensive survey of 296 million people in 2006,and by the1982 census.The top100 surnamescover 84.77% of China's population.The top 10 surnames each have populations greater than 20 million. The MPS survey revealed that the top 3 surnames in China have a combined population larger than Indonesia,the world's fourth-most-populous country.

The 2019 report by Chinese Ministry of Public Security gives the surnamesWangandLias the most common ones, with each shared by over 100 million people in China. Each of the most common 23 surnames in China has more than 10 million users.

A commonly cited fact from the 1990 edition of theGuinness Book of World Recordsestimated that Zhang was the most common surname in the world,but no comprehensive information from China was available at the time and more recent editions have omitted the claim.

Taiwan

Main article:List of common Taiwanese surnames

Distribution of Taiwanese surnames

Trần Chen (11.06%)

Lâm Lin (8.28%)

Hoàng Huang (6.01%)

Trương Chang (5.26%)

Lý Lee (5.11%)

Vương Wang (4.12%)

Ngô Wu (4.04%)

Lưu Liu (3.17%)

Thái Tsai (2.91%)

Dương Yang (2.66%)

Other (47.4%)

Names in Taiwan – both among the immigrantethnic Chineseandindigenous Taiwanese people– are similar to those in southeast China but differ somewhat from the distribution of names among all Han Chinese. According to a comprehensive survey of residential permits released by the TaiwaneseMinistry of the Interior's Department of Population in February 2005,the ten most common surnames in Taiwan areChen( trần ),Lin( lâm ),Huang( hoàng ),Chang or Zhang( trương ),Lee or Li( lý ),Wang( vương ),Wu( ngô ),Liu( lưu ),Tsai( thái ), andYang( dương ).

Taiwanese surnames include some local variants likeTu( đồ ), which do not even appear among theHundred Family Surnames,as well as a number of relatively recently created names likeChangchien( trương giản ) and Chiangfan ( khương phạm ). However, names in Taiwan show less diversity than China as a whole: the top ten comprise 52.63% of the Taiwanese population and the top hundred 96.11%.There were also only 1,989 surnames recorded by the Ministry's survey,against China's four or five thousand.

As is typical of China as a whole, these surnames conflate many different lineages and origins, although tradition may bind them to the sameancestral templesand rituals orban intermarriage.For example, some Taiwanese converts toPresbyterianismadopted the name Kai ( giai,pinyinXié) in honor of the Canadian missionaryGeorge Leslie Mackay( mã giai,Pe̍h-ōe-jīMá-kai).

See also

• Art name
• Chinese clan
• Chinese compound surname
• Chinese given name
• Chinese name
• Courtesy name
• Exogamy
• Generation name
• Hundred Family Surnames
• Japanese name
• Korean name
• List of common Chinese surnames
• Naming laws in the People's Republic of China
• Onomastics
• Vietnamese name

References

Sources

• Du, Ruofu; Yida, Yuan; Hwang, Juliana; Mountain, Joanna L.;Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca(1992),Chinese Surnames and the Genetic Differences between North and South China(PDF),Journal of Chinese Linguistics Monograph Series, pp. 18–22 (History of Chinese surnames and sources of data for the present research), archived fromthe original(PDF)on 20 November 2012
• "O rare John Smith",The Economist,p. 32, 3 June 1995,Only 3,100 surnames are now in use in China [...] compared with nearly 12,000 in the past. An 'evolutionary dwindling' of surnames is common to all societies. [...] [B]ut in China, [Du] says, where surnames have been in use far longer than in most other places, the paucity has become acute.
• Cook, Steven (6 March 1997),"China's Identity Crisis: Many People, Few Names",The Christian Science Monitor,Why the lack of surnames, then? The reason, according to Du Ruofu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is that all societies experience an 'evolutionary dwindling' of family names as less-common ones die out. Because the Chinese have used surnames for thousands of years (compared to just a few centuries in many parts of Europe), this effect has become particularly significant.

External links

• Chinese Surnames (Simplified),with sound
• Chinese-sounding surnames in the 1990 US census
• Chinese family name information from the US National Archives
• Meaning Behind 19 Most Common Chinese Surnames
• The Ten-Thousand Families of Surnames from Netor (NETOR kỷ niệm: Vạn gia tính thị ) (in simplified Chinese only)
• Top 10 Chinese Surnames in 2019