Editing Chinese surname (section)

==History==

Chinese surnames have a history of over 3,000 years. Chinese mythology, however, reaches back further to the legendary figure [[Fuxi]] (with the surname Feng), who was said to have established the system of Chinese surnames to distinguish different families and prevent marriage of people with the same family names.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t26Iv0Octa0C&pg=PA3 |last=Chao |first=Sheau-yueh J. |script-title=zh:尋根溯源中國人的姓氏 |trans-title=Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames |page=3 |publisher= Clearfield|date= 2009|isbn= 978-0806349466}}</ref>  Prior to the [[Warring States period]] (fifth century BC), only the ruling families and the aristocratic elite had surnames. Historically there was a difference between ancestral clan names or ''xing'' ({{linktext|姓}}) and branch lineage names or ''shi'' ({{linktext|氏}}). ''Xing'' may be the more ancient surname that referred to the ancestral tribe or clan, while ''shi'' denoted a branch of the tribe or clan.  For example, the ancestors of the [[Shang dynasty|Shang]] had ''[[Zi (surname)|Zi]]'' (子) as ''xing'', but the descendants were subdivided into numerous ''shi'' including [[Yīn (surname)|Yin]] (殷), [[Song (Chinese surname)|Song]] (宋), Kong (空), [[Tong (surname)|Tong]] (同) and others.<ref name=du /> The distinction between the two began to be blurred by the [[Warring States period]]. During the [[Qin dynasty]], name usage was standardised, commoners started to acquire a surname or ''xing'', and the  ''shi'' also became ''xing''.<ref name=looie /> By the [[Han dynasty]], families only had ''xing'' or ''xing-shi''. The great majority of Han Chinese surnames (now called ''xing'' or ''xingshi'') that survive to modern times have their roots in ''shi'' rather than the ancient ''xing''.<ref name=du>{{cite journal |title= Surnames in China |author=Du Ruofu |journal=Journal of Chinese Linguistics|volume= 14|number= 2 |date=June 1986|pages= 315–328 |jstor=23767123 }}</ref>

In modern usage, ''xing'' is the surname, but the word ''shi'' survives as a word to refer to the clan. The term ''shi'' may be appended to the surname of a person; for example, a man with the Zhang surname may be referred to respectfully as Zhang-''shi'' instead of his full name. It is used in particular for the paternal surname of a married woman, therefore in this case ''shi'' means [[maiden name]], which a Chinese woman would continue to use after marriage.<ref name=looie>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IGAClRACrsYC&pg=PA19 |title=Chinese American Names: Tradition and Transition |author= Emma Woo Louie |pages=18&ndash;19 |publisher=McFarland & Co |date= 2008|isbn=978-0786438778 }}</ref><ref name=scmp>{{cite news |url=https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2046955/complex-origins-chinese-names-demystified |title=The complex origins of Chinese names demystified|author=Wee Kek Koon|date=18 November 2016|work=South China Morning Post }}</ref>

=== ''Xing'' ===
[[File:Radical nuu xing.png|thumb|The character for ''xing'' with the female radical 女 in red]]
The ancient ''xing'' were surnames held by the [[Chinese nobility|noble clans]]. They generally contain a "female" ({{zh|c=女|p=nǚ}}) [[Radical (Chinese characters)|radical]], for example [[Ji Clan|Ji]] ({{linktext|姬}}), [[Jiang (surname)|Jiang]] ({{linktext|姜}}), [[Yao (surname)|Yao]] ({{linktext|姚}}) and [[Yíng]] ({{linktext|嬴}}). This is taken as evidence that they originated from [[matriarchal]] societies based on [[Women in ancient and imperial China#Neolithic|maternal lineages]]. The character for ''xing'' itself is composed of a female radical and the character for "give birth" (生, ''shēng'').<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ku1Sr-q9KNUC&pg=PA140 |title=Warp and Weft, Chinese Language and Culture |first= Keekok |last=Lee |pages=140–141|publisher=Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency, LLC |date= 2008|isbn=978-1606932476 }}</ref>  ''Xing'' is believed to have been originally transmitted through women of noble birth, while noble men have ''shi''.<ref name=du />

Scholars such as [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank]], however, are unconvinced by the matriarchy theory of Chinese surnames due to a lack of independent evidence. An alternative hypothesis has been proposed, suggesting that the use of female radical in ''xing'' may have arisen from the clan [[exogamy]] system used during the [[Zhou dynasty]] (the words ''xing'' and ''shi'' also did not exist in the Shang dynasty [[oracle bones]]). In ancient times, people of the same ''xing'' were not permitted to marry each other and a woman married into an aristocratic clan needed to be of a different name.<ref name=pulleyblank /> Based on observation of the evolution of characters in oracular scripture from the [[Shang dynasty]] through the [[Zhou dynasty|Zhou]]: the 女 radical seems to appear during the Zhou period next to Shang [[Chinese character|sinograms]] indicating a clan or a tribe. This combination seems to designate specifically a female and could mean "lady of such or such clan". The structure of the ''xing'' sinogram could reflect the fact that in the royal court of Zhou, at least in the beginning, only females (wives married into the Zhou family from other clans) were called by their birth clan name, while the men were usually designated by their title or fief.

While people of the same ''xing'' were not permitted to marry each other, those with the same ''shi'' can. By the Han dynasty when everyone had ''xing'' and the surname was transmitted paternally, the practice continued, but it had changed to marriage between families of men on the paternal side being prohibited, but not on the maternal side.<ref name=du />

===''Shi''===
Prior to the [[Qin dynasty]] (3rd century BC), China was largely a ''[[fengjian]]'' (feudal) society. As fiefdoms were divided and subdivided among descendants, so additional sub-surnames known as  ''shi'' were created to distinguish between noble lineages according to seniority, though in theory they shared the same ancestor. In this way, a nobleman would hold a ''shi'' and a ''xing''. ''Xing'', however, was more important than ''shi''.

The difference between ''xing'' and ''shi'' became blurred in the [[Spring and Autumn period]] starting with women. For example: [[Spring and Autumn Annals|Chunqiu]] referred to Duke Xuan of [[Lu (state)|Lu]]'s consort Lady Mujiang (穆姜), who bore the clan name (姓, ''xing'') Jiang, as ''Jiangshi'' 姜氏, "[lady of the] Jiang ''shi''" (!).<ref name=pulleyblank>{{cite journal |url=https://www.bulgari-istoria-2010.com/booksBG/E_Pulleyblanck_JI_and_JIANG_2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707111756/http://bulgari-istoria-2010.com/booksBG/E_Pulleyblanck_JI_and_JIANG_2.pdf |url-status=usurped |archive-date=7 July 2016 |author=Edwin G. Pulleyblank|date= 2000|title=Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity|journal= Early China|volume= 25|pages= 1–27| doi=10.1017/S0362502800004259|s2cid=162159081|author-link=Edwin G. Pulleyblank}}</ref>

After the states of China were unified by [[Qin Shi Huang]] in 221 BC, surnames gradually spread to the lower classes. Most surnames that survive to the present day were originally ''shi''.

===Origins of Chinese surnames===
According to the chapter on surnames in the Han dynasty work ''[[Fengsu Tongyi|Fengsu Tong]] &ndash; Xingshi Pian'' (風俗通姓氏篇), there are 9 origins of Chinese surnames: dynasty names, posthumous titles, ranks of nobility, state names, official positions, style names, places of residence, occupations, and events.<ref name=du /> Modern scholars such as [[Jiang Kanghu|Kiang Kang-Hu]] proposed that there are 18 sources from which Chinese surnames may be derived,<ref>{{cite book |title= On Chinese Studies |author=Kiang Kang-Hu |pages=127–8 |year=1934 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSYhAAAAMAAJ }}</ref> while others suggested at least 24.<ref>{{cite book |title=In Search of Your Asian Roots: Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames |author=Sheau-yueh J. Chao |isbn=978-0806349466 |publisher=Clearfield |year= 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t26Iv0Octa0C&pg=PA4 |pages=4–7 }}</ref> These may be names associated with a ruling dynasty such as the various titles and names of rulers, nobility and dynasty, or they may be place names of various territories, districts, towns, villages, and specific locations, the title of official posts or occupations, or names of objects, or they may be derived from the names of family members or clans, and in a few cases, names of contempt given by a ruler.<ref>{{cite book |title=Chinese names |author=Russell Jones |publisher=Pelanduk Publications |pages=1–3 |year=1997|isbn= 978-9679786194 }}</ref>

The following are some of the common sources:

# '''''Xing''''': These were usually reserved for the central lineage of the ancient royal family, with collateral lineages taking their own ''shi''. The traditional description was what were known as the "Eight Great ''Xing''s of High Antiquity" ({{linktext|上|古|八|大|姓}}), namely [[Jiāng (surname 姜)|Jiāng]] ({{linktext|姜}}), [[Jī]] ({{linktext|姬}}), [[Yao (surname)|Yáo]] ({{linktext|姚}}), [[Yíng]] ({{linktext|嬴}}), [[Si (surname 姒)|Sì]] ({{linktext|姒}}), Yún ({{linktext|妘}}), [[Gui (surname)|Guī]] ({{linktext|媯}}) and Rèn ({{linktext|妊}}), though some sources quote [[Ji (surname 姞)|Jí]] ({{linktext|姞}}) as the last one instead of Rèn. Of these ''xing'', only Jiang and Yao have survived in their original form to modern days as frequently occurring surnames.{{why|date=March 2020}}
# '''State name''': Many nobles and commoners took the name of their state, either to show their continuing allegiance or as a matter of national and ethnic identity.  These are some of the most common Chinese surnames in the present day such as [[Wu (surname)|Wú]] ({{linktext|吳}}, 9th most common), [[Zhou (surname)|Zhōu]] ({{linktext|周}}, 10th most common)
# '''Name of a fief or place of origin''': Fiefdoms were often granted to collateral branches of the aristocracy and it was natural as part of the process of sub-surnaming for their names to be used. An example is Di, Marquis of Ouyang Village, whose descendants took the surname [[Ouyang (surname)|Ouyang]] ({{linktext|歐陽}}). There are some two hundred examples of this identified, often of [[Chinese compound surname|two-character surnames]], but few have survived to the present. Some families acquired their surname during the Han dynasty from the [[Commandery (China)|Commandery]] they resided in.<ref>{{cite book |last=Chao |first=Sheau-yueh J. |year=2000 |script-title=zh:尋根溯源中國人的姓氏 |trans-title=Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames |page=ix |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |isbn=9780806349466 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t26Iv0Octa0C}}</ref>
# '''Names of an ancestor''': Like the previous example, this was also a common origin with close to 500 or 600 examples, 200 of which are two-character surnames. Often an ancestor's [[courtesy name]] would be used. For example, [[Yuan Taotu]] took the second character of his grandfather's courtesy name Boyuan ({{linktext|伯|爰}}) as his surname. Sometimes titles granted to ancestors could also be taken as surnames.
# '''Seniority within the family''': In ancient usage, the characters ''[[Zhong (surname)#Zhòng 仲|zhong]]'' ({{linktext|仲}}), ''shu'' ({{linktext|叔}}) and ''[[Ji (surname 季)|ji]]'' ({{linktext|季}}) were used to denote the second, third and fourth (or last) eldest sons in a family. For the first son ''[[Meng (surname)|meng]]''  ({{linktext|孟}}) was meant for a child born to a secondary wife or a concubine, while ''[[Bo (Chinese surname)#柏 Bó|bo]]'' {{linktext|伯}} indicated a child born to the primary wife. These were sometimes adopted as surnames. Of these, Meng is the best known, being the surname of the philosopher [[Mencius]].
#'''Official positions''', such as [[Shǐ (surname)|Shǐ]] ({{linktext|史}}, "historian"), [[Ji (surname 籍)|Jí]] ({{linktext|籍}}, "royal librarian"), [[Ling (surname)|Líng]] ({{linktext|凌}}, "ice master"), Cāng ({{linktext|倉}}, "granary manager"), Kù ({{linktext|庫}}, "store manager"), Jiàn ({{linktext|諫}}, "[[adviser]]"), Shàngguān ({{linktext|上官}}, "high official"), [[Taishi (surname)|Tàishǐ]] ({{linktext|太史}}, "grand historian"), Zhōngháng ({{linktext|中行}}, "commander of middle [[Column (formation)|column]]"), Yuèzhèng ({{linktext|樂正}}, "chief musician"), and in the case of [[Shang dynasty|Shang]]'s "Five Officials" ({{linktext|五官}}), namely [[Sima (Chinese surname)|Sīmǎ]] ({{linktext|司馬}}, "minister of horses", akin to [[defence minister]]), [[Situ (surname)|Sītú]] ({{linktext|司徒}}, "[[Situ (office)|minister of the masses]]", akin to treasurer), Sīkōng ({{linktext|司空}}, "minister of works", akin to minister of infrastructure), Sīshì ({{linktext|司士}}, "minister of [[yeomen]]", akin to chief [[ombudsman]]) and Sīkòu ({{linktext|司寇}}, "minister of bandits", akin to [[attorney general]]);
#'''General occupations''', as with [[Tao (surname)|Táo]] ({{linktext|陶}}, "[[Pottery|potter]]"), [[Tu (surname)|Tú]] ({{linktext|屠}}, "butcher"), [[Bu (surname)|Bǔ]] ({{linktext|卜}}, "[[Divination|diviner]]"), Jiàng ({{linktext|匠}}, "[[Artisan|craftsman]]"), [[Wu (surname)#Wū (巫)|Wū]] ({{linktext|巫}}, "[[Wu (shaman)|shaman]]") and Chú ({{linktext|廚}}, "cook").
# '''Titles of nobility''', such as [[Wang (surname)|Wáng]] ({{linktext|王}}, "king"), [[Hou (surname)|Hóu]] ({{linktext|侯}}, "marquis"), [[Xiahou|Xiàhóu]] ({{linktext|夏侯}}, "[[Marquis]] of [[Xia County|Xia]]") and [[Gongsun|Gōngsūn]] ({{linktext|公孫}}, "Duke's grandchild")
# '''Royal decree by the Emperor''', such as [[Kuang (surname)|Kuang]] ({{linktext|鄺}}), bestowed amongst other gifts to Kuang Yuping, previously Fang Yuping (方愈平), by [[Emperor Xiaozong of Song]], upon making Yuping's daughter an imperial concubine.<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.whykang.com/m/view.php?aid=18324
|access-date= 2022-07-25
|script-title=zh:百家姓中為何沒有"鄺"？鄺姓源出何處？
|script-website=zh:文康网
|date= 2021-08-21
|editor= 褚興英
|archive-date= 2022-07-25
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220725072341/http://www.whykang.com/m/view.php?aid=18324
|url-status= live
}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2022}}
# '''Ethnic and religious groups''': [[Ethnic minorities in China|Non-Han Chinese peoples in China]] sometimes took the name of their ethnic groups as [[Sinicization|sinicized]] surnames, such as [[Hu (surname)|Hú]] ({{linktext|胡}}, "barbarian"), [[Jin (Chinese surname)|Jīn]] ({{linktext|金}}, "[[Jurchen people|Jurchen]]"), Mǎn ({{linktext|滿}}, "[[Manchu]]"), [[Di (surname)|Dí]] ({{linktext|狄}}, "[[Beidi|Di people]]"), Huí ({{linktext|回}}, "[[Hui people]]") and [[Murong|Mùróng]] ({{linktext|慕容}}, a [[Xianbei]] tribe).  Many [[Hui Muslim]]s adopted the [[Ma (surname)|surname Ma]] ({{linktext|馬}}), an old Chinese surname, when they were required to use Chinese surnames during the Ming dynasty as it sounded close to the first syllable of [[Mohammad]]; it was also fitting for some of those who were caravaneers as the word means "horse".<ref>{{cite book |author=Leif Manger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8WGOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |title=Muslim Diversity: Local Islam in Global Contexts |date=18 October 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136818578 |page=132 |access-date=22 July 2022 |archive-date=3 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703211711/https://books.google.com/books?id=8WGOAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA132 |url-status=live }}</ref>
# '''Famous people:''' A couple of surnames originate from famous people in Chinese history. For example, the surname 李 originates from [[Laozi|Lao Tzu.]] This probably means that people today with the surname 李 are mostly descendants of Lao Tzu, including the Tang emperors.

Many also changed their surnames throughout history for a number of reasons.

* A ruler may bestow his own surname on those he considered to have given outstanding service to him; for example, the surname [[Liu]] ({{linktext|劉}}) was granted by emperors in the [[Han dynasty]], [[Li (surname 李)|Li]] ({{linktext|李}}) during the Tang dynasty, and [[Zhao (surname)|Zhao]] ({{linktext|趙}}) from the [[Song dynasty]].
* Others, however, may avoid using the name of a ruler, for example Shi ({{linktext|師}}) was changed to [[Shuai]] ({{linktext|帥}}) to [[naming taboo|avoid conflict]] with the name of [[Sima Shi]].  Others may modify their name in order to escape from their enemies at times of turmoil, for example Duanmu ({{linktext|端木}}) to Mu ({{linktext|木}} and {{linktext|沐}}), and Gong ({{linktext|共}}) to [[Gong (surname)|Gong]] ({{linktext|龔}}).
* The name may also be changed by simplification of the writing, e.g. Mu ({{linktext|幕}}) to [[Mo (Chinese surname)|Mo]] ({{linktext|莫}}), or reducing from double or multiple character names to single character names, e.g. Duangan ({{linktext|段干}}) to Duan ({{linktext|段}}).
* It may also have occurred through error, or changed due to a dissatisfaction with the name (e.g. Ai {{linktext|哀}}, "sorrow", to Zhong {{linktext|衷}}, "heartfelt feeling").<ref>{{cite book |title=In Search of Your Asian Roots: Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames |author=Sheau-yueh J. Chao |isbn=978-0806349466 |publisher=Clearfield |year= 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t26Iv0Octa0C&pg=PA8 |pages=8–9 }}</ref>