THE ORIGIN OF CHINESE FAMILY NAME (中国人的姓氏 – zhōngguó de xìngshì)

Family and Given–name in Chinese Tradition are symbol to distinguish people. Same Family Name (clan name) is a symbol indicating same blood relationship or family.

In the beginning (old Chinese tradition) a family name was taken from maternal side. Very old family names (clan names) are generally composed of a nǚ (女 – female) radical (= by which Chinese characters are arranged in dictionaries). For example : 姜 (jiāng)、姬 (jī)、姚 (yáo)、姒 (sì) , etc.

《百家姓 – bǎijiāxìng = Hundred surnames》was written by an anonymous author in Song Dynasty (宋代- sòngdài), which explains and describes The origin and history of Chinese family names (clan names). In this book we find 494 Chinese clan names.

In according to statistic there are actually over 8,000 Chinese clan names (surnames / family names), but recently only 100 Chinese family names are used. Among of them, approximately 19 famous Chinese surnames could be found as following : 李 (lǐ)、王 (wǎng)、张 (zhāng) 、刘 (liù)、陈 (chén)、杨 (yáng)、赵 (zhào)、黄 (huáng)、周 (zhōu)、吴 (wú)、徐 (xú)、孙 (sūn)、胡 (hú)、朱 (zhū)、高 (gāo)、林 (lín)、何 (hé)、郭 (guō)、马 (mǎ)。Three family names: 李 (lǐ)、王 (wǎng)、张 (zhāng) are the most taken surnames in the Chinese population.

Chinese family names can be categorized in two parts: Single-character (单姓- dānxìng) and Double-character (复姓- fùxìng) Surnames. Single-character is favorite in comparison to Double-character Family names. In relation to “《百家姓 – bǎijiāxìng = Hundred surnames》” there are 434 Single-character family names and 60 Double-character surnames.
李 (lì)、王 (wǎng)、张 (zhāng)、刘 (liù)、陈 (chén) are common used Single-character surnames, in the meanwhile we find 诸葛 (zhūgě)、司马 (sǐmǎ)、欧阳 (ōuyáng)、司徒 (sǐtú) , etc. as Double-character surnames and these names still survive in this present time.

In the recent time family or sur-names are taken from paternal side in according to late Chinese tradition.

NOTE :What radical means ?

CHINESE NAMES ( 中国人的名字- zhōngguó de míngzi)

Chinese Name is a name expressed in Han’s (汉- Hàn) character (汉字 - Hànzi) and these names are usually used by Chinese Population living in their own country even overseas Chinese who emigrate to other countries in the world.

Writing Chinese names must follow rules in according to the Tradition and Chinese culture. In general, character of Chinese Name is divided in three sub-characters.The first sub character is normally taken from father’s family name (Last name or surname - Paternal side). The second and third character mostly used to describe given name of the child. Example: Lín Zhēnhóng (林真红) : Lín (林) indicates family name or clan and Zhēnhóng (真红) means given name.

Sometimes we will find Chinese Name with 4 characters, but in this case, the fourth additional name could be picked from other foreign language. Example: Maria is written as 玛丽亚 (mǎlìyā). This is not pure Chinese name. This case is mostly valid for overseas Chinese living in western countries. So, they add western name like Maria Lin, Keith Wang, etc.,on the other side they often neglect second and third name character.

Would you like to change your name into Chinese name? You could find in the following website :http://www.chinese-tools.com/names/search.html

NAMES FOR RELATIONSHIP IN CHINESE TRADITION (关系的称谓) - MATERNAL SIDE

Mother’s father 外祖父 (wài zǔfù) 外公 (wàigōng);公公 (gōnggōng) (maternal) grandfather

Mother’s mother 外祖母 (wài zǔmǔ) 外婆 (wàipó); 婆婆 (pópó) (maternal) grandmother

Mother’s brother 舅父 (jiùfù) 舅舅 (jiùjiù) uncle
* Wife 舅母 (jiùmǔ) aunt

Mother’s sister 姨母 (yímǔ) 阿姨 (āyí) aunt
* Husband 姨父 (yífù) uncle

Son of mother’s sibling older than ego 表兄 (biǎoxiōng) 表哥 (biǎogē) First cousin

Son of mother’s sibling younger than ego 表弟 (biǎodì) First cousin

Daughter of mother’s sibling older than ego 表姐 (biǎojiě) First cousin

Daughter of mother’s sibling younger than ego 表妹 (biǎomèi) First cousin

NAMES FOR RELATIONSHIP IN CHINESE TRADITION (关系的称谓) - PATERNAL SIDE

The word “Family” is a very crucial point in the chinese tradition, so in this society a family relationsship is precisely distinguished and categorized in two parts: Paternal Side (male) and Maternal Side (female) or “Out Side”.

Why is the Maternal Side also pronounced as Outside? The Chinese Tradition regulate: that in a chinese marriage the bride is assumed as a new “entering daughter” for the bridegroom parents and their families. This bride does not “belong” anymore to her origin family.

As below listed are names in regarding to mentioning of families members from Paternal Side:

* Father´s grandfather 曾祖父 (zeng zufu) 太爷爷 (tai yeye) (Paternal)Grandfather

* Father´s grandmother 曾祖母 (zeng zumu) 太奶奶 (tai nainai) (Paternal)Grandmother

* Father’s father 祖父 (zufu) 爷爷 (yeye) Grandfather

* Father’s mother 祖母 (zumu) 奶奶 (nainai) Grandmother

* Father’s older brother 伯父 (bofu) 伯伯 (bobo) Uncle
*Wife 伯母 (bomu) 伯娘 (boniang) Aunt

* Father’s younger brother 叔父 (shufu) 叔叔 (shushu) Uncle
*Wife 婶母 (shenmu) Aunt

* Father’s older
sister (or married) 姑母 (gumu) 姑姑 (gugu) Aunt
*Husband 姑父 (gufu) 姑丈 (guzhang) Uncle

* Father’s younger
sister 姑姐 (gujie) 姑姑 (gugu) Aunt

* Son of father’s
brother older than ego 堂兄 (tangxiong) first cousin

* Son of father’s
brother younger than ego 堂弟 (tangdi) first cousin

* Wife of son of
father’s brother 堂嫂 (tangsao) first cousin in-law

* Daughter of father’s
brother older than ego 堂姐 (tangjie) 堂姊 (tangzi) first cousin

* Daughter of father’s
brother younger than ego 堂妹 (tangmei) first cousin

* Son of father’s
sister older than ego 表兄 (biaoxiong) 表哥 (biaoge) first cousin

* Son of father’s
sister younger than ego 表弟 (biaodi) 姑表弟 (gu biaodi) first cousin

* Daughter of father’s
sister older than ego 表姊 (biaozi) 表姐 (biaojie) first cousin

* Daughter of father’s
sister younger than ego 表妹 (biaomei) 姑表妹 (gu biaomei) first cousin