Chinese surname

A Chinese family name, also called a clan name or surname (姓, pinyin: xìng), is one of the over seven hundred family names used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups. The term the hundred family names (百姓 bai xìng) is colloquially used in Chinese to mean people or commoners. Chinese family names are passed from the father, and there is generally a taboo against marriage between persons of the same surname. In cases of adoption, the adoptee also takes the same surname.

Although there are over 700 Chinese family names, the 20 most common names are used by the majority of Chinese. The reason for this is statistical—it is more likely that the father of a child will have a common family name than an uncommon name, so small differences are magnified over time. This effect is more pronounced among Chinese than European surnames because Chinese surnames have existed for a much longer time.

Within each surname there are Chinese clans, which are groups of people who share a given surname and come from the same ancestral village. In many cases, there will be several different clans with the same surname from the same ancestral village. Often these clans will have different generational names.

Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honours. 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. The surname of the Han emperors was Liu, and that of the Ming emperors was Zhu. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the Mandate of Heaven and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. In addition, unlike European practice, the family of a deposed emperor would lose all power. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.

In writing Chinese names, Chinese family names are placed before the given name, e.g. CHEUNG Kwok Wing. Hence the Western concept of first name and last name only creates confusion when used with Chinese names. In Westernized Asian countries or for those residing in the West, often a Western name is chosen, e.g. Leslie Cheung (張國榮). When the Western name and Chinese name are put together, it often becomes hard to tell what the family name is. Some variants include:

• Zhāng Guóróng -- China, transcription using official Hanyu pinyin system, which romanizes Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese characters, and adds suprasegmental phonemes.
• Cheung Kwok-wing -- China (Cantonese-speaking), romanization of Cantonese pronunciation of Chinese characters.
• Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing -- Hong Kong, hybrid of Western/Chinese.
• Leslie Kwok-wing Cheung -- United States among others, use given name as middle name.

Some publications and legal documents will print the family name in small capital letters to allow it to be easily distinguished, e.g. Leslie CHEUNG Kwok Wing.

Chinese women usually retain their maiden names after marriage, sometimes placing their husbands' family names in front of theirs. For example, former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong, Mrs. Anson Chan is known as CHAN FANG On-sang (陳方安生) where Fong is her maiden name.

There are sometimes complex traditions associated with surnames. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called "double Liao" surname. The story is that the founder of the clan was adopted and so took the surname Liao, but in honor of his ancestors, he demanded that he be buried with the surname Chen. As a result, his descendants use the surname Liao while alive and the surname Chen after death.

In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of certain surnames, 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 surname exogamy is generally practiced.

Most commonly occurring Chinese family names have only one character; however, about twenty double-character family names have survived into the modern time. Some famous ones include Sima (司馬, simp. 司马), Zhuge (諸葛, simp. 诸葛), Au Yeung (歐陽, simp. 欧阳 Ouyang in pinyin, occasionally Anglicized, or rather, Irishized, as O'Young), and Szeto (in Cantonese) (司徒 in pinyin: Situ). There are family names with three or more characters, but those are extremely rare and most likely have non-Han origin, for example, Aixinjueluo (愛新覺羅, also romanized from the Manchu language as Aisin Gioro, which was the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty.

Popularity of family names has regional distributions. Some common Northern names are rare in the South. For example, the 55th most popular family name Xiao (肖) is almost unheard of in Hong Kong, as this "new" surname is "created" from oversimplifying the traditional surname "蕭" during the Cultural Revolution. Chan (陳, simp. 陈)is perhaps the most common last name in Hong Kong. Chen is a particularly common name in Taiwan. Whereas in Singapore 許 is the most common. On the other hand, the 47th most popular family name Fong (方) is a major name in the Chinatown of San Francisco, California, USA. As with the concentration of family names, this can also be explained statistically, as a person with an uncommon name could move to an unsettled area and leave this family name to large numbers of people.

Transliteration of Chinese family names (see Table 1 below) into English poses a number of problems. It is common for the same surname to be transliterated differently and for different family names with similar pronunciations to be transliterated identically.

Common Chinese family names

Table 1: Top 70 Family Names in Mandarin, Cantonese and Minnan Transliterations
The "Other" columns are common transliterations, used before the formalization and popularization of existing Romanizations, still can be found in the names of some overseas Chinese. The last columns are some popular transliterations in other Chinese languages (dialects) used by some overseas Chinese whose ancestral mother tongue is neither Mandarin nor Cantonese nor Minnan.
The tone marks, though a part of the official Romanizations, are not used officially in passport or in overseas schools.

	Char.		Mandarin			Cantonese			Min Nan (Hokkien)		Other dialects
	T.	S.	Pinyin	W-G¹	Other	Jyutping	Yale/py	Other	Pe̍h-oē-jī	Other
1	王	王	Wáng	Wang		Wong4	Wong	Vong (Portuguese spelling)	Ông	Ong
2	陳	陈	Chén	Ch'en (Chen)	Chern	Can4	Chan	Chun	Tân	Tan	Ding, Chin
3	李	李	Lǐ	Li	Lee	Lei5	Lee		Lí	Dee	Ly (Vietnamese), Le
4	張	张	Zhāng	Chang		Zoeng1	Cheung		Tiuⁿ	Teo
5	劉	刘	Liú	Liu	Liou	Lau4	Lau		Lâu		Liew
6	楊	杨	Yáng	Yang		Joeng4	Yeung		Iûⁿ	Yeo
7	黃	黄	Huáng	Huang	Hwang	Wong4	Wong	Vong (Portuguese spelling)	N̂g
8	吳	吴	Wú	Wu	Woo	Ng4	Ng		Gô•	Goh
9	林	林	Lín	Lin		Lam4	Lam	Lum	Lîm
10	周	周	Zhōu	Chou	Joe	Zau1	Chow		Chiu
11	葉	叶	Yè	Yeh		Jip6	Yip	Ip	Ia̍p	Yap
12	趙	赵	Zhào	Chao		Ziu6	Chiu	Jiu	Tiō		Chu (Hawaiian spelling)
13	呂	吕	Lǚ	Lü (Lu)		Leoi5	Lui		Lī/Lū	Dy
14	徐	徐	Xú	Hsü (Hsu)		Ceoi4	Tsui		Chhî	Chee
15	孫	孙	Sūn	Sun	Suen	Syun1	Sun / Suen		Sng/Sun
16	朱	朱	Zhū	Chu		Zyu1	Chu	Chue	Chu		Gee, Ju
17	高	高	Gāo	Kao		Gou1	Ko	Go	Ko
18	馬	马	Mǎ	Ma		Maa5	Ma	Mah	Má
19	梁	梁	Liáng	Liang		Loeng4	Leung / Leong	Lang	Niû	Neo
20	郭	郭	Guō	Kuo		Gwok3	Kwok		Koeh
21	何	何	Hé	Hê, Ho		Ho4	Ho		Hô
22	鄭	郑	Zhèng	Cheng	Jehng	Zeng6	Cheng		Tēⁿ/Tīⁿ	Tay
23	胡	胡	Hú	Hu		Wu4	Wu	Woo	Ô•
24	蔡	蔡	Cài	Ts'ai (Tsai)		Coi3	Choi	Choy	Chhoà	Chua
25	曾	曾	Zēng	Tseng	Tzeng	Cang4	Tsang		Chan
26	佘	佘	Shē	She		Se4	Sheh
27	鄧	邓	Dèng	Teng		Dang6	Tang	Dung	Tēng
28	沈	沈	Shěn	Shen		Sam2	Sum	Shum	Sím
29	謝	谢	Xiè	Hsieh	Sheih	Ze6	Tse		Chiā/Siā
30	唐	唐	Táng	T'ang (Tang)		Tong4	Tong		Tn̂g
31	許	许	Xǔ	Hsü (Hsu)		Heoi2	Hui		Khó•	Koh
32	羅	罗	Luó	Lo		Lo4	Lo	Law, Lowe	Lô
33	袁	袁	Yuán	Yüan (Yuan)		Jyun4	Yuen		Oân
34	馮	冯	Féng	Feng	Ferng	Fung4	Fung / Fong
35	宋	宋	Sòng	Sung	Soong	Sung3	Shung (?)		Sòng
36	蘇	苏	Sū	Su		Sou1	So		So•
37	曹	曹	Cáo	Ts'ao (Tsao)		Cou4	Chô		Chô
38	陸	陆	Lù	Lu		Luk6	Luk (?)		Lio̍k
39	麥	麦	Mài	Mai		Maak6	Mak	Muk	Be̍h
40	董	董	Dǒng	Tung		Dung2	Tung		Táng
41	于	于	Yú	Yü (Yu)		Jyu1 or Jyu4 ?	Yu		I/U
42	韓	韩	Hán	Han		Hon4	Han		Hân
43	任	任	Rèn	Jen		Jam4 or Jam6?	Yam	Yum	Jîm
44	蔣	蒋	Jiǎng	Chiang	Chung	Zoeng2	Cheung	Chiang	Chiúⁿ	Cheoh
45	顧	顾	Gù	Ku		Gu3	Gu	Goo	Kò•
46	鍾	钟	Zhōng	Chung		Zung1	Chung		Chiong
47	方	方	Fāng	Fang		Fong1	Fong		Png
48	杜	杜	Dù	Tu		Dou6	To / Do		Tō•
49	丁	丁	Dīng	Ting		Ding1	Ting	Ding	Teng
50	姚	姚	Yáo	Yao		Jiu4	Yao		Iâu
51	潘	潘	Pān	P'an (Pan)		Pun1	Poon		Phoaⁿ	Phua
52	姜	姜	Jiāng	Chiang		Goeng1	Geung		Kiang/Kiuⁿ
53	譚	谭	Tán	T'an (Tan)		Taam4	Tam	Tom	Thâm		Hom
54	邱	邱	Qiū	Ch'iu (Chiu)	Chiou	Jau1	Yau		Khu	Khoo
55	蕭	肖	Xiào	Hsiao		Siu1	Siu		Siau
56	金	金	Jīn	Chin	Kim	Gam1	Kam	Gum	Kim
57	賈	贾	Jiǎ	Chia		Gaa2	Ga		Kà
58	田	田	Tián	T'ien (Tien)		Tin4	Tin		Tiân
59	崔	崔	Cuī	Ts'ui (Tsui)	Tsuei	Ceoi1	Cheui (?)		Chhui		Choi (Korean)
60	程	程	Chéng	Ch'eng (Cheng)		Cing4	Ching		Thiâⁿ
61	余	余	Yú	Yü (Yu)					Î/Û
62	魏	魏	Wèi	Wei					Gūi
63	薛	薛	Xuē	Hsüeh (Hsueh)					Sih
64	戴	戴	Dài	Tai					Tè
65	范	范	Fàn	Fan					Hoān
66	盧	卢	Lú	Lu			Lo		Lô•
67	洪	洪	Hóng	Hung					Âng
68	侯	侯	Hóu	Hou					Hâu
69	夏	夏	Xià	Hsia					Hā
70	白	白	Bái	Pai					Pe̍h/Pe̍k

¹ Unofficial versions of Wade-Giles transliterations, (with diacritics removed) appear in parentheses. Currently, Wade-Giles is used primarily to romanize Taiwanese names, and often appears (erroneously) without the diacritics.

Reference for Table 1

• : For the top 60 family names.
• : For pinyin and link to Cantonese Jyuping transliteration.
• : need Big5 font.
• : For the family names in popular Cantonese transliteration.