Chinese family name

A Chinese family name/clan name/surname (姓 in pinyin: xìng4) refers to one of the over seven hundreds of family names used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups and is part of a Chinese name. The term the hundred family names (百姓 bǎixìng) is colloquially used in Chinese to mean people/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.

In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of certain surnames which are 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.

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 ancestor demanded that he be buried with the surname Chen. As a result, his descendants use the surname Liao while alive but once they die, their surname becomes Chen. This is in contrast to the "single Liao" surname which remains both before and after death.

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 (司马), Zhuge (诸葛), Ouyang (欧阳 occasionally Anglicized[?], or rather, Irishized, as O'Young), and Situ (司徒 in Cantonese: Szeto). 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 as Aisin-gioro), the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty.

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 pronounciations to be transliterated identically.

Table 1: Top 60 Family Names in Mandarin and Cantonese 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.
The tone[?] marks, though a part of the official Romanizations, are not used officially in passport or in overseas schools.

	Char.		Mandarin			Cantonese			Other dialects
	T.[?]	S.	Pinyin	W-G	Other	Jyutping[?]	Yale[?]/py	Other
1	王	王	Wang2	Wang		Wong4	Wong	Vong	Ong?
2	陳	陈	Chen2	Chen	Chern	Can4	Chan
3	李	李	Li3	Li	Lee	Lei5	Lee
4	張	张	Zhang1	Chang		Zoeng1	Cheung
5	劉	刘	Liu2	Liu	Liou	Lau4	Lau
6	楊	杨	Yang2	Yang		Joeng4	Yeung
7	黃	黄	Huang2	Huang	Hwang	Wong4	Wong
8	吳	吴	Wu2	Wu	Woo	Ng4	Ng
9	林	林	Lin2	Lin		Lam4	Lam
10	周	周	Zhou1	Chou	Joe	Zau1	Chow
11	葉	叶	Ye4	Yeh		Jip6	Yip
12	趙	赵	Zhao4	Chao		Ziu6	Chiu
13	呂	吕	Lü3	Lu		Leoi5	Lui
14	徐	徐	Xu2	Hsu		Ceoi4	Tsui
15	孫	孙	Sun1	Sun	Suen	Syun1	Sun / Suen
16	朱	朱	Zhu1	Chu		Zyu1	Chu	Chue
17	高	高	Gao1	Kao		Gou1	Ko
18	馬	马	Ma3	Ma		Maa5	Ma
19	梁	梁	Liang2	Liang		Loeng4	Leung / Leong
20	郭	郭	Guo1	Kuo		Gwok3	Kwok
21	何	何	He2	Hê, Ho		Ho4	Ho
22	鄭	郑	Zheng4	Cheng	Jehng	Zeng6	Cheng
23	胡	胡	Hu2	Hu		Wu4	Wu
24	蔡	蔡	Cai4	Tsai		Coi3	Choi
25	曾	曾	Zeng1	Tseng	Tzeng	Cang4	Tsang
26	佘	佘	She1	She		Se4	Sheh
27	鄧	邓	Deng4	Teng		Dang6	Tang
28	沈	沈	Shen3	Shen		Sam2	Sum
29	謝	谢	Xie4	Hsieh	Sheih	Ze6	Tse
30	唐	唐	Tang2	T'ang (Tang)		Tong4	Tong
31	許	许	Xu3 (Xü3)	Hsu		Heoi2	Hui
32	羅	罗	Luo2	Luo		Lo4	Lo	Law, Lowe
33	袁	袁	Yuan2	Yüan (Yuan)		Jyun4	Yuen
34	馮	冯	Feng2	Feng	Ferng	Fung4	Fung / Fong
35	宋	宋	Song4	Sung	Soong	Sung3	Shung (?)
36	蘇	苏	Su1	Su		Sou1	So
37	曹	曹	Cao2	Tsao		Cou4	Cho
38	陸	陆	Lu4	Lu		Luk6	Luk (?)
39	麥	麦	Mai4	Mai		Maak6	Mak
40	董	董	Dong3	Tong		Dung2	Tung
41	于	于	Yu2	Yu		Jyu1 or Jyu4 ?	Yu
42	韓	韩	Han2	Han		Hon4	Han
43	任	任	Ren4	Jen		Jam4 or Jam6?	Yam
44	蔣	蒋	Jiang3	Chiang	Chung	Zoeng2	Cheung	Chiang
45	顧	顾	Gu4	Ku		Gu3	Gu
46	鍾	钟	Zhong1	Chong		Zung1	Chung
47	方	方	Fang1	Fang		Fong1	Fong
48	杜	杜	Du4	Tu		Dou6	To / Do
49	丁	丁	Ding1	Ting		Ding1	Ting	Ding
50	姚	姚	Yao2	Yao		Jiu4	Yao
51	潘	潘	Pan1	P'an (Pan)		Pun1	Poon
52	姜	姜	Jiang1	Chiang		Goeng1	Geung
53	譚	谭	Tan2	T'an (Tan)		Taam4	Tam
54	邱	邱	Qiu1	Chiu	Chiou	Jau1	Yau
55	肖	肖	Xiao4	Hsiao		Ciu3	Chiu
56	金	金	Jin1	Chin	Kim	Gam1	Kam
57	賈	贾	Jia3	Chia		Gaa2	Ga
58	田	田	Tian2	T'ien (Tien)		Tin4	Tin
59	崔	崔	Cui1	Tsui	Tsuei	Ceoi1	Cheui (?)
60	程	程	Cheng2	Ch'eng (Cheng)		Cing4	Ching

Reference for Table 1

• Zhongwen.com: Top 200 Chinese Family Names (http://zhongwen.com/xingshi.htm): For the top 60 family names.
• LIN Yu-tang Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage (http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Lindict/): For pinyin and link to Cantonese Jyuping transliteration.
• Look up all surnames from LIN Yu-Tang dictionary (http://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/cgi-bin/agrep-lindict?query=surname&category=full&boo=and&ignore=on&order=all): need Big5 font.
• Yahoo! Hong Kong (http://hk.yahoo.com/): For the family names in popular Cantonese transliteration.

see Chinese personal name[?]

External Links

• Chinese Surnames (Simplified) (http://www.ocrat.com/ocrat/chargif/surnam00), with Real Audio
• Chinese-sounding surnames in the 1990 US census (http://www.geocities.com/cplai/lastname.htm)
• 《百家姓》 The Hundred Families' Surnames (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/3919/) with literal meanings of the surnames.

See also: Most popular family names, Korean family name