My surmame is 李 (pinyin: Li; Cantonese:Li/Lee, but actually pronounced as Lei in Cantonese; Korean: Yi)

Literally, Li means a certain kind of plum.

Li is perhaps one of the most populated surnames in the world.

The origin (classical but legendary view) of Li the surname:

The surname of Li came from the name of a official rank Dali (大理) in ancient (pre-Xia) period. Dali was responsible of legal services.

During the reign of Shun舜 (reminder: Hunagdi or Yellow Emperor 黃帝 -> Yao堯 -> Shun舜 -> Xia Dynasty -> Shang Dynasty -> Zhou Dynasty), a man called Gaotao皋陶 was appointed as Dali becuase of his justice and good morality. Because of his good reputation, Gaotao's descendants was inherited the post of Dali generations by generations. As it was popular to use the post name 理 Li as surname (see remark).

Many generations after, it was the reign of King Zhou紂 of Shang Dynasty. As you may know, King Zhou was a cruel tyrant and killed many his advicers who provided good advice for him. The Dali as that time, 理徵 Li Zheng, was no exception. He was killed and his wife and son flled. During there escape, they faced hunger on the road. Luckily, they saw a Li 李 tree and ate the fruit. They survived. Though they survived, they could not use the surname any more. To memorize the tree that saved their life, they shifted the surname to 李. (理 and 李 had same pronounciation)

The surname of Li did not get properous and popular until the Tang Dynasty.

It was because it was the surname of the royal family. More importantly, the Tang emperors presented many of the officials to use the surname Li. Many of them are non-Han tribal leaders. On the other hand, many people secretly changed their surname to Li at that time.


Famous persons that have the surname of Li:

pre-Qin Dynasty
Li Er 李耳 - or Lao Zi 老子, famous philosopher of the Daoist school
Li Mu 李牧 - general of Zhao state, the Qin King feared no one but one Li Mu

Han Dynasty
Li Guang 李廣- general that made large scale expedition on Xiongnu (Hun)

Tang Dynasty
Royal family
Li Yuan 李淵 (Tang Gaozu 唐高祖) - founder of Tang Dynasty
Li Shimin 李世民 (Tang Taizong 唐太宗) - second Emperor of Tang Dynasty. Regard as the most enlightened, capable and greatest emperor throughout Chinese history.
Li Longji 李隆基 (Tang Xuanzong 唐玄宗) - emperor of mid-Tang, capable and great. Tang reached the climax under his reign. A major rebellion by non-Han general An Lushan 安祿山 severly weakened the Tang state.
Non-royal family
Li Jing 李靖 - great general during Taizong's reign. Launched expeditions to East Turks.
Li Bai 李白 - great romantic poet during Xuanzong's reign.
Li Shangyin 李商隱 - poet in late Tang.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period
Li Yu 李煜 - last king of Southern Tang State. Great poet.

Song Dynasty
Li Qingzhao 李清照 - female poet in mid-Song

Xixia Kingdom
Li Yuanhao 李元昊 - leader of ethnic Dangxiang 党項 (Tanguts) tribe. Founder of the Xixia Kingdom

Ming Dynasty
Li Shizhen 李商隱 - doctor, had major contribution on the medical document 本草綱目 Ben Cao Gang Mu (a book)
Li Zicheng 李自成 - peasant rebel leader in late Ming. Emperor Congzhen hanged himself when he captured Beijing and ended the Ming Dyansty.

Qing Dynasty
Li Hongzhang (Li Hung-chang) 李鴻章 - 'Bismarck of China', mandarin, diplomat and refomer (though not successful). The most famous Chinese in the second half of 19th century.

Republic/People's Republic
Li Zongren 李宗仁- warlord of Guangxi, cadre of KMT
Li Xiannian 李先念- cadre of CCP
Li Peng 李鵬- premier of PRC in 1990s

Korea
Yi Sun-sin 李舜臣 - national hero of the Koreans. fight against Japanese invasion in 1590s.



Remarks
When tracing origin of Chinese surname, it should be aware of the difference of 姓xing and shi 氏. In modern Chinese language, xingshi 姓氏 are often put together to mean surname. But in ancient time (pre-Han), xing and shi were different concept. xing directly meaned a surname while shi refered to clan name. Xing were much less in number. The most idenfiable are Ji 姬(Zhou Kings), Jiang 姜, Ying 嬴(Qin Kings), Zi 子 (Shang Kings), Mi 芈 (Chu Kings). Shi are much more variable. Peoples (mostly nobles at first) used their state name, city name, official posts, occpations or some events (just like Li) as shi. So a person might have xing and shi at the same time. For example, Confucius. He was born Kong Qiu 孔丘. He was a son of a declined noble of the Song state. So, his xing was Zi 子, shi was 孔 and name Qiu 丘 with courtesy name Zhongni 仲尼. Later in the Warring States period, the difference between xing and shi got much smaller. Many peasants also had their shi. After Qin, xing and shi were mixed up.

Tetsu, I think your surname is 周 (pinyin: zhou; Cantonese: chau/chow)

Zhou was the longest dynasty in Chinese history, lasted for more than 800 years. (though more than half of the time it was disunited) It was suceeded by Qin Dynasty. Therefore, many members of the royal family used Zhou as surname.

There were also many non-Han tribes adopted Zhou as their surname.

ok ok this is going WAY back BUT aren't they all names of great chinese warriors?? i'm probably wrong

Where did you hear that from? Not all surnames appeared at once. Their origin are all different.

my family name is Wong

Why do Koreans have same surname?

Because Korea was under Han influence. Just like what Cuirassier says, many non-Han tribes usually got surname from Han.

Is Lau popular or Luu? or something?
But I know Li is popular though

Mine is Xiao 萧 , the same as that of the hero Xiaofeng in JingRong' novel Tian long ba bu.

Not only Korean, Vietnamese also.

劉　pinyin:Liu Cantonese: Lau

a quite common Chinese surname.

3 origins of Liu

1. Descendant of Yao 堯, originally surname was Qi 祁, later the Qi clan were subinfeudated to a place called Liu 劉, so they used the state name as surname.

2. From the Zhou royal family. During Zhou Chengwang 周成王, third king of Zhou Dynasty, one of the family members were subinfeudated to Liu. They used state name as surname.

3. Adopted by others. In Han Dynasty, the chief of Xiongnu (Hun) used Liu as surname. In Northern Wei Dynasty, the Dugu 獨孤 clan of Xianbei people adopted that because of forced sinicization policy of Xianbei Emperor Xiaowendi 孝文帝.

Famous people of Liu
Liu Bang 劉邦 (Han Gaozu 漢高祖) - founder of Han Dynasty
Liu Che 劉徹(Han Wudi漢武帝) - the most powerful emperor of Han Dynasty
Liu Xiu 劉秀(Han Guangwudi 漢光武帝) - founder of Eastern Han Dyansty
Liu Bei 劉備(Han Zhaoliedi 漢昭烈帝) - founder of Shu蜀-Han漢 Kingdom, Three Kingdoms period. main character of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Liu Yuan 劉淵 - chief of Xiongnu. Rebelled against Jin Dyansty that started the Five Hus and Ten Kingdoms era.
Liu Yu 劉裕 (Song Wudi 宋武帝) - powerful prime minister of late Eastern Jin Dynasty. Great general against the Hus (Barbarian) occupying the Yellow River Region. Usurped the Jin and founded the Song 宋 Dyansty (not the one after Tang)

Contemporary
Liu Xiaoqi - cadre of CCP, state chairman, hunted by Mao during Culture Revolution.

The most famous person with the surname Xiao in the history is Xiaohe 萧何, who was one of the most important idea man of Liubang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. Here was an interesting story about Xiaohe:

Hanxin was a military genius in Han Dynasty history. When he first went to Liubang's camp, (at that time Liubang was at war against Xiangyu) , Liubang didn't treat him as an important person, so one night he escaped from Liubang's camp. It is Xiaohe who chased Hanxin up and persuaded him to go back to Liubang's camp, and persuaded Liubang to commission him as marshal of Liubang's troops. Here comes the famous saying "Xiaohe chasing Hanxin under moonlight".

Henceforth, Hanxin defeated Xiangyu, and with his help Liubang got reign over China. However, Hanxin came to be very arrogant and became a hindrance to Liubang's governance. Liubang wanted to get rid of him but could not succeed because at that time Hanxin had grasped the military force. Also it is Xiaohe who devised a stratagem and managed to kill Hanxin for Liubang's sake. When dying Hanxin moaned the more famous saying "(my) Success owes to Xiaohe, so does failure"

xiaowind,

There was once the communist simplified 蕭 into 肖 but later changed back to 萧.
So many people got changed their surname from 蕭 to 肖 but never changed back to 萧. Is this true? coz I see many people in the mainland still using 肖 as surname.


for those who might not understand, 肖 is both a traditional and simplified character. In tradtional chinese, it has been never a surname.

You are quite right, In tradtional chinese, 肖 has never been a surname. My father changed the surname from 萧 to 肖 at 1949(or later), but i want to change it back to 萧, because i feel that 萧 is COOL.
There are still many people using 肖, because they are too lazy to change it back.

Mine is:

Goa : In Teochew
"Ou" : In Mandrin or at least how it is sound.
Ngo: In Vietnamese

My Chinese ancestral home is in southern China (near "Sun-Tao"). I speak Teochew and can understand about 70% of the so-call "Taiwanese chinese" (not Mandarin BTW) or Hokkien. I don't know too much about the history of the my last name or what it really mean. If someone can give me a point or two about my last name and the early history of the Teochew people...would really appreciate it.

holamon , is your surname 歐 or 區?

歐 (pinyin: ou; Cantonese: au)
Two orgins:

1. From the surname of Ouye 歐冶. During late Spring and Autumn Period, there was a famous sword-craftsman called Ouye Zi 歐冶子. He was famous for casting five famous swords, Zhanlu湛盧, Juque巨闕, Shengxie勝邪, Yuchang魚腸 and Chungou純鈎 for the King of Yue 越. He lived in a hill called Ouyu Shan. So he combined the place he live (Ou) and his occupation (ye冶) into Ouye as surname. His discendents simplified Ouye to Ou as their surname.

2. Disendents of the famous king of Yue, Gouqian 勾踐. He was the main character of the story 'laying on firewood and taste gallbladder' 卧薪嘗膽. Six generations after, Yue was force annexed by Chu 楚. The second son of the last Yue king, Wujiang 無疆 was subinfeudated to the south of Ouyu Shan. So his disendents used the place name as their surnames. Three surnames were evloved, Ou, Ouyang 歐陽 and Ouhou 歐侯. Some Ouyang and Ouhou also simplified to Ou.

區 (pinyin: ou; Cantonese: au)
Changed from the 1st origin of 歐 above.


source: http://cn.netor.com/wjx/frame.asp?id=251&name=欧

Some people in the Viet forum claim that Yue people had fleed to the territory of Viet and became one of minorities in Viet.

To my knowledge, Viets in Vietnam only claim to be from Luo Yue (Lac Viet) tribe.

Also in my memory Yue was force annexed by Chu 楚.

That Yue kingdom was different from Viet.

actually the term 'Yue''s pure meaning was not used for a single tribe. according the a article i've read, the terms 'yue', 'yi' 夷 etc. are used for a certain distance from the capital. Any tribes having that distance from the capital are coined 'yue'
so, the tribes in todays Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Vietnam or even Myanmar and Xinjiang are coined 'yue'. eg. tribes in Zhejiang was called 'Wu-Yue' 吳越; Guangdong: 'Nan(south)-Yue'南越; Fujian: 'Dong(East)-Yue' 東越; Myanmar: 'Piao-Yue' 驃越; Xinjiang: 'Sha(sand)-Yue' 沙越; Laos/Vietnam: 'Luo-Yue'雒越(dunno whether it's the same with Lac Viet). In short, Yue was orininally not a single tribe name.

The Yue Kingdom was a feudal state of Zhou dynasty. During the late Spring and Autumn Period, Yue and Wu Kingdom fought each others for years. Yue was annexed by Wu. 20 years later, Gouqian restored the kingdom and eliminated Wu. Later Yue was annexed by Chu.

mine is chen

Chen means "old" or "arrange"

Lü

Same as Lü Bu, from Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Also the same as one of the early ruthless empresses of Han.
And some high official in Song (?)

A picture of vertebrae.

There is a site which tells the origin of Chinese surnames, I don't know if it has already been posted. Regardless I don't have the link right now so I'll post later

The originators of the surname were a major part of a 3000 year old or so flood fighting effort. They were granted a name and a kingdom. The kingdom disappeared long before the end of the Zhou dynasty and the beginning of empire.

May be Liu in Mandarine or Lou in Cantonese.

my last name is Huang黄...i know there's long story behide it..but i forgot

last name is fukk
first name is chin_k

































J/P

You are going to make trouble?

Just ignore him.

I am a Zhou, this crappy browser makes my characters turn out to be question marks, it's weird becasue I can see every other character.

NO SIR!

Any of U guys knows where the origins of name LIN?

Literally Lin means forest.
The surname originate from a high official in Shang Dynasty. (About 1100 BC) That official was named BiGan and was famous of his loyalty to the king(Zhou wang), and was sentenced to death for his condemning of the king. He was killed cruelly, the king ordered to take his heart out of his body to see if he had a "Red" or "Black" heart.
BiGan's wife had managed to escape and settled at a place named Lin (don't know where it locates), soon after the first son of BiGan was born and got the surname Lin.

Kool I didn't know that

Many years later that man BiGan was considered as an divinity.
Below is a joss of BiGan:

No because I speak Mandarin. My uncle says that the Hungarians or Germans or somebody pronounced his name correctly, and it is due to their better suited alphabet

I think an umlaut is appropriate. If it's confusing, in common English, or pinyin, it's Lu.

Pinyin is blasphemy

Remember, Lu Bu the handsome fearsome warrior

No, Lü is Lü and Lu is Lu, they're different.

Lü in Chinese is 呂 or Cantonese Lui

Lu can be 陸 (Canto: Luk) or 盧 (Canto: Lo4) or even 魯 (Canto: Lo5).


Ü is a standard yunmu (vowel) in pinyin system.

but if ü is preceeded by j, q and x, they are written as ju, qu and xu.
If ü does not have a consonant before it, y is used. such as yu, yuen, yuan...
lü and nü are different from lu and nu. :genius:





Lü Bu And Diao Chan

Does anyone know the last name YOU/YU is and where it originated..same as HU???

It depends on what dialect it is pronounced in. For example, Minnanese Ang is the same as Cantonese Wong and Mandarin Huang, but without knowing the proper correspondence, just seeing Ang might lead one to conclude that it is Mandarin An, which is a totally different name.

Why are you asking? Is that your last name?

Yes. It's pronounced the same way as Yu. As for Hu...it sounds like "who". what do they mean and where did it originate from? Does it even have a meaning. "You" doesn't mean anything from my ethnicity.

The only thing I can think of Hu is just Mandarin Hu, like Kelly Hu...
This is what I found googling:
The thirteenth most popular surname in China. There are two origins of the surname Hu. 1) Emperor Zhou Wen Wang awarded ancient Emperor Yao’s descendent Wei Man as the Duke of Chen, known as Chen Hu Gong. His descendents adopted the middle name of Duke Chen as their surname. 2) During the Zhou Dynasty, there were two Hu Kingdoms. The first kingdom was in the east of Le River in Henan, with the surname Ji. The second kingdom was in the town of Fu Yang in Anhui, with the surname Gui. Both of these Hu Kingdoms were destroyed by the Chu Kingdom, during the Chun Qiu Dynasty. Their descendents assumed the surname Hu to commemorate their old kingdoms.

Hometown: town of Gu Yuan in Gangsu Province.

As for yu/you, that is so complicated. I think Yu and You might even be two different names...And then yu itself can be several different surnames (since Chinese is a tonal language)...

Generally the surnames go back in history a long time (That's why there are so many with the same names)...The names are either the names of clans, or presenting a different ethnicity when they merged, or presenting a specific locality...

I like Chinese double-barrelled names. I have friends in Malaysia with surnames Sze-tho and Au-yong. Never got around to asking them what they mean.

Yes, I agree that fuxing or multiple-character surnames are cool too

but during the long history lot of people with fuxing simplified their surnames.

few fuxings are still properous today:
司徒 Situ
司馬 Sima
歐陽 Ouyang

diminishing or (maybe) extinct fuxings
諸葛 Zhuge
夏侯 Xiahou
淳于 Chunyu
端木 Duanmu
令狐 Linghu
皇甫 Huangfu
長孫 Zhangsun

and don't forget the Manchu royal surname Aixinjiaoluo

Interesting!
Do you know where these 'double-character' surnames originate?

And yes, they look very cool.

Retard. Read my post again.

You did not explain it well enough.

Mine is Sheng. As in Mao Sheng. Can you find it?

My surname is Ho (english) / He (han yu pin yin). Can someone tell me its origin and maybe some famous people who share the same surname as me? thank you~

Interesting... I 've read that He originate from the wrong pronunciation of Han 韩.

After Han kingdom conquered by Qin Dynasty, people with surname Han fleed to the south. Since Han and He had the almost same pronunciation in the southern area of China, gradually part of these Han kingdom people accept the He pronunciation and changed their surname to He.

he ( 何 )

The 17th most common last name in China. The name Ho came from the last name Han. During the first year of the Xi Zhou, Wu Wang’s second son Tang Shu Yu was awarded the land of Tang (Yi Cheng of Shanxi). Later, descendents were awarded the Jin kingdom (Tai Yuan in Shanxi). A few generations later, the Han kingdom was awarded to a descendent called Wan, and he became the forefather of the Han family. During Zhan Guo (475 – 221 B.C.), the Han kingdom was eliminated by the Qin kingdom and the Han people fled. There was a person called Han Han who tried to flee to the other side of a river. The Qin army stopped him and asked for his name. Trembling, Han pointed at the freezing river, implying that his last name was "Han" (the last name "Han" rhymes with the word "cold"). The guard misunderstood him and recorded his name as "He", which means the "river". Han later changed the name from "He" of the river to the last name "He" (the former character has water as part of the character and the latter has man as part of the character).

Hometown: West of Lu Jiang in An Hui province.

sim........the hanyu pinyin is shen

My first time to read such an interesting story about that fortunate guy Han Han.