Let's see how many Cambodian surnames we can think of, feel free to add to the list. Ones I can think of:

Chea
Van
Khoeun
Kim
Tang/Taing
Pen
Chim
Vy
Ly
Thong
Nak
Huy/Houy
Hout
Pang
Meng
Sim
Vichea
Soch
Sin
In
Uy
Oung

Anything else?

^LOL. The majority of them are Chinese surnames, Teochiu in particular.

Some real khmer surnames:

Prum
Preap
Nimol
Sam
Loun

how do you know for sure? i don't think those are chinese surnames at all. how about yim? if they're chinese what do they mean then?

^The fact that khmers have chinese surnames shows how much chinese mixes there are in cambodia.

I can read off the list and translate them in mandarin:

chea-xie
heng-wang
ung-huang
Ly-Li
Hour-Hua

i mean translating those surnames into their meaning. i highly doubt there's actually that many khmer mixes. they can just be a mere coincidence.

the surname chan for example. i also see chinese with this surname. chan means moon in khmer. what does it mean in chinese?

Yeah, some are coincidences, but it is highly suspicious that most of them are of chinese origin.

Chan I htink is the cantonese version of Chen in mandarin and could mean old or stale.

well, i don't know for sure myself. i am however interested in knowing the origins of khmer surnames. i will do some research on it when i have enough time. i read that khmers actually didn't have surnames until around the 14th or 15th century. don't know if this is true or not though.

These our the khmer surnames ive heard of

Pheng
Sorm
Sok
Phon
Phann
On
Ung
Kong- im guessin is chinese but its my cousins last name
Hoy
Khun
Heang
Meas

haha tell me about it when you write your thesis on it....i'd like to know too...maybe the teochiu people introduced surnames to the natives since a lot of them migrated down south...imo

Many of the surnames are so short...I count three letters in majority of them.

umm these are in my phone directory.. on my phone haha.

Ou
Mok
Mak
Khoun
Lorn
Moul
Kong
Long
Chak
Or
Rous

Cambodians also take the surname of either parents, or have their father's first name as their surname. Even siblings might end up with different surnames. Well, I'd think this would happen much more frequently in Cambodia, than say, in Australia.

A hypothetical situation:

Father: Dara Chan
Mother: Thida Heang

Child 1: Sovan Dara
Child 2: Serey Chan
Child 3: Sokha Heang

my last name is my dads first name.

Mine is my mother's surname, which happened to be her father's first name.

-Em
-Keo
-Chuab
-Yorn
-You: my last name. and no, its not chinese either.

Let me add some to the list which are Chinese last name.

Kim = Gold
Thong = Middle or Central as in the Middle Kingdom

My last name: Chan
My sister's : Chea
My father: Som, then he changed it to Chan also.
My mother's: Pich then she changed it to Hem.
LOL

Well with my last name Im the only one in the town where I live in

Last Name = Chheang

wonder if thats a rare last name ?

Anybody help me out if they if it is.

Ouh Koun

Tum

Lim

Sun

well never heard chheang before but Heang is a common name for khmer people. its similar in a way.

I think Chheang is chinese although i'm not 100% sure.

Chheang sounds like Chiang or Chang in mandarin which means prosperous.

Chiang or Chang is what I was looking for because I knew a chinese girl who last name is Chiang or Chang.

Chheang looks more cambodian.

I agree, chheang is very khmer.

Oh I forgot my dad's surname!

Khuth
Te <--well that's his other surname.... but I've seen other Cambodians with this surname too.

Did search, and found a few others too.

Choeun
Chhoub
Duong
Em
Khan
Khlot
Long
Ma
Mao
Moul
Neak
Meang
Noung
Nourn
Nout
Ouk
Thy
Voeum

What would be the most common surname in Cambodia?

some of you sino-khmers are giving a little too much credit to chinese. i mean chea=xie? wtf?

chea mostly likely means good health. what does chea means in chinese?

I'm not giving credit to anyone. All I was trying to prove is that a lot of Khmers are mixed with Chinese more than any other ethnicities in Cambodia, and the chinese souding surnames highly supports that claim.

Anyway, Xie is just a surname, it doesn't really mean anything, but it means thank you if it is "xie xie".

Sok
khun
khai
Prak
saluk
Tum
Mon
Pen
Sam
Som
Thith
Chhay

Yeah I agreed with you that Chea is not Chinese surname. It means well or heal in Khmer. But anyway, Te and Lim are definitely Chinese. Don't exactly know what Te means but Lim means tree for forest in Chinese.

My last name is more Cambodian than Chinese. If you take away the extra H and the E then you would get a Chinese surname. My full name is Samreth Ty Chheang. Im one of a kind lol. I dont know if anyone else has that name but hey if they do they they can join the Chheang Club hehe. Thanks all for the replys.

Is Te also spelled with an "a" as in Tea? I've seen this a lot too.

No, its a different "Te", and is pronounced like.. the word tea in khmer, umm sort of like Tae, with an unaspirated T .

Sen
Ung
Samphan
Sary
Chea
Vanneth
Pichenda
Sarith
Sim
Nary
Meas
Nam
Oeun
Sivorn
Daro
Charny
Rangsey
Norodom

...

hey my last name is up there. its Sim btw

lastname - Chau

and my first name is split in two.

Rangsey is a royal surname I believe...eh? Sam Rainsy should acually be Rangsey or Reangsey...unusual spelling. And the equivalent is Rasmey, but that's more often used for first names.

Don't forget the sisowath's! and is monorom a royal surname as well?

I know Khmers with the last name Hiep. I know its Vietnamese, but basically, they're not even Vietnamese. The last name may have come from 5, 6 or 7 generations ago.

Know any Khmer with Indian last name?

^Sin Sisamouth has a Lao surname I think. So his surname is made of Sanskrit words. Sisamouth = Sri Samudra.

During high school I knew two Khmer Krom guys who had Ngoc and Thong as their last names.

my last name is Pen

Let's see how many Cambodian surnames we can think of, feel free to add to the list. Ones I can think of:

Chea
Van
Khoeun = Khmer
Kim = Gold in Chinese
Tang/Taing = Chan, Chen, Tran Chinese
Pen
Chim
Vy
Ly = Lee, Li, Ly
Thong
Nak
Huy/Houy
Hout
Pang
Meng
Sim
Vichea
Soch
Sin
In
Uy = Chinese
Oung = Yellow
Pheng
Sorm
Sok
Phon
Phann
On
Ung = Chinese Yellow
Kong- im guessin is chinese but its my cousins last name
Hoy
Khun
Heang = Chinese
Meas
Tum
Lim = Lam Chinese
Sun = Chinese
Khuth
Te = Tea Chinese origin<--well that's his other surname.... but I've seen other Cambodians with this surname too.
Choeun
Chhoub
Duong = Chinese
Em
Khan
Khlot
Long = Chinese
Ma = Horse Chinese
Mao = Hair Chinese
Moul
Neak
Meang
Noung
Nourn
Nout
Ouk
Thy
Voeum

Well I'm Chen Teochiu and Cambodian... My last name is Teur, Sheu, Tsui, Xu which is a Chinese origin last name...

some of them arent chinese.. like duong and uy.. duong i guess means somethin pure.. as for uy, not sure what it means but got a family member who has it as a first name..

Since there are so many Viets, why doesn't anybody mention Viet surnames?

Im gla that someone has brought Khmer surnames here.

Yeah...here are more though!!!!

T
Rithy
Dara
Ann
Rath
Bopha
Phaul
sokal
and .......much..mmuch more!!! Im busy so i gota to go..*Start engine 'n speed away*

What's about

seng
siv
san
soy
khouerth
kuy
say
anything esle, anybody?

What about:

Nguyen
Tran
Le
Mai
Bui
Trinh
Luu
Ngo
Pham

etc etc?

Yeah I got friends that has the last name Uy and they are Chinese Hokkien to b exact... Duong is the same thing... It's either dervive from a Chinese last name to a Khmer last name over time...