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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.
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 |
See also: Most popular family names, Korean family name
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