Editing Chinese surname (section)

===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>