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Cao (Chinese surname)

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For the Chinese surnameGao,writtenCaoin Vietnamese, seeCao (Vietnamese surname).
Tào
RomanisationCáo / Tsao
Origin
Meaning
  1. plaintiffanddefendant
  2. fodder
  3. divisiondepartmentof thecentralgovernmentin ancient times
  4. official
  5. group,team
Other names
Derivative(s)Cokro, Jasa, Laksamana, Sarana, Vonco (Indonesian)

Cáois thepinyinromanizationof theChinese surnameTào(Cáo). It is listed 26th in theSong-eraHundred Family Surnamespoem. Cao is romanized as "Tsao"inWade-Giles(Ts'ao), which is widely adopted inTaiwan,although the apostrophe is often omitted in practice. It is romanized "Cho","Tso",and"Chaw"inCantonese;"Chou","Chô",and"Chow"inHokkien;and "Chau","Chow"inTeochew.It is romanized "Zau" or "Dzau" in Shanghainese.

Distribution

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Cao is the30th-most-common surnameinmainland Chinaas of 2019[1]and the58th-most-common surnameonTaiwan.

In theUnited States,the romanization Cao is a fairlycommon surname,ranked 7,425th during the1990 censusbut 2,986th during the year2000 census.[2]It is one of the few Chinese surnames whose pinyin transcription is already more common than other variants. TheWadetranscription Tsao was only ranked 16,306th during the 1990 census and 12,580th during the year 2000 one. TheCantonesetranscription is actually becoming less common, falling from 7,638th place to 9,925th.[2]The Korean nameChois more common still than Cao, befitting its frequency in Korea itself, where it makes up about 2% of the South Korean population: seeCho (Korean name).

History

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Cáo's former pronunciations have been reconstructed as*N-tsˤuinOld ChineseandDzawinMiddle Chinese.[3]It originated from theZhou-eraDuchy of Caofounded byZhenduo[zh].The later claim that Cao is said to have been descended from theYellow Emperorvia theZhuanxu Emperorshould not be confused with the Chinese surname Gao or the Vietnamese surname Cao. It was the origin of the modern Cāo andZhufamilies.Yan ( nhan )was from Cao ( tào ).[4]

  • Granted to Cao Guan, taking the official as his surname. It is said that during the reign of Zhuanxu, Gonggong competed with Zhuanxu for the "sovereignty" and a fight broke out. Gonggong tried to flood Zhuanxu by releasing water, but was killed by Zhuanxu. However, the descendants of Gonggong still served as water officials and held water control positions in the tribal alliance. During the Xia dynasty, flood control heroes Gun and Yu appeared again. Although Gun made great efforts, he was not successful in controlling the floods. Later, Yu summarized the lessons learned from Gun's failure to control floods by building embankments and blocking the flow, and switched to the method of dredging rivers and diverting blocked rivers (dredging stagnant rivers) to make floods flow smoothly from small to large and into large rivers., finally controlled the flood and turned water damage into water conservancy. When Yu was controlling the floods, Lu Zhong's fifth son (also said to be the sixth son) An Zheng was at the right time. He was given the title of Cao Guan because of his contribution to assisting Xia Yu in controlling the floods. Cao Guan was an official who guarded slaves in a "circular land" prison. This was not a small official in the slave-owning regime whose main function was to suppress slaves at that time. An later took Guan as his surname. This is the beginning of the surname Cao. Cao An first lived in Caoshui, Lingbao County, Henan Province. This is the place where Cao An received his surname.[citation needed]
  • Another origin is that it is derived from theancestral nameof a descendant ofZhurong,Yan An[zh],the founder of the state of Zhu, later namedZou,and located in modernZouxian,Shandong. After the state was annexed byChuduring the Spring and Autumn period Cao ( tào ), along withZhuandZou,was adopted as a surname by its former subjects.[5]
  • from the name of a state,State of Cao ( tào quốc ),(located in Dingtao in Shandong province) granted to Zhenduo, the thirteenth son of the virtuousKing Wen of Zhou.After the state was annexed bySong,Cao ( tào ) was adopted as a surname.
  • Taken as a surname by the Sogdians when they came to China and became one of the "Nine Sogdian Surnames",also known as 'nine surnames of Zhaowu'.

Other surnames

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Cao can also serve as the romanization for the Chinese surnamesCāo(Thao),Cǎo(Thảo), andCào(鄵) as well; however, they are not nearly so common. They were both unlisted among theHundred Family Surnamesand do not appear among any list of the current popular surnames.

Cāo was likely*tsʰˤawʔin Old Chinese andTshawXin Middle Chinese; its original meaning was "grasp".[3]It originated from the given name of one ofCao Cao's descendants after the establishment ofCao Wei.Its modern use as acurse worddepends on a recent homophone and is unrelated to the surname.

Cǎo was likely*tsʰˤuʔin Old Chinese, but had become a homophonousTshawXby Middle Chinese; its meaning is still "grass" and similar plants.[3]

List of people with the surname

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Historical figures

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See also:Cao Wei family treesandCao Cao § Family

Modern figures

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See also

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References

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  1. ^"Tân kinh báo - hảo tin tức, vô chừng mực".
  2. ^abUS Census Bureau.Op. cit.Public Broadcasting Service."How Popular Is Your Last Name?Archived2015-11-27 at theWayback Machine"Accessed 6 Apr 2012.
  3. ^abcBaxter, Wm. H. & Sagart, Laurent."Baxter–Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction".Archived fromthe originalon September 27, 2013.(1.93 MB).2011. Accessed 11 October 2011.
  4. ^"Gan Heritage Centre China Chapter - Gan Heritage Centre".Google Arts & Culture.Retrieved2020-11-01.
  5. ^The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
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