A Passage to China (走近中国) - Type of Chinese Family Names

It is very complicated to try to categorize type of Chinese family names and there are various ways to categorize them, but there might be the following types if we do it customarily：

1. Totemic names –names that came from totems like Ma (horse, 马)，Xiong(bear, 熊)，Niu (cow, 牛),Yang (sheep, 羊), Long (dragon, 龙), Shan (mountain, 山), Hua (flower, 花), Shui (water or river, 水), et al. Even though some Chinese family names come from totems, it is difficult to do textual research; it was too long ago! It is said that when Huang Di led the clans of Xiong (bear, 熊)，Pi(brown bear, 罴), Xiu (a mythical wild animal, 貅), Pi (a mythical bearlike wild animal, 貔)，Hu (tiger, 虎) in the fight with Chi You(蚩尤, a mythological warrior engaged in fighting with Huang Di), those clan names were probably the earliest totemic clan names.
   
2. Patronymic names –names that were taken from the given names of ancestors. For example, at the turn of the Zhou Dynasty, there was a king called Yu Xiong (鬻熊). This Yu Xiong was a very able man who became very well-known in the State of Chu(楚国). He was also well-known that his descendants, then, took part of his given name Xiong(熊) as their family name. The following family names all belong to this category: Xiong (bear, 熊), Niu (cattle, 牛), Yu (fish, 鱼), Jing (well, 井)，Chang (常), Mu (牧), Kong (孔), Gao(高), et al.
   
3. Fief names –names that derived from the name of fief. For example, one of the sons of Emperor Zhou Wen conferred a title and a fief. The son established State of Wei and his descendants all took Wei, the name of the fief or territory, as their family name. The following names are all of this kind: Zhao (赵), Wu(吴), Zheng(郑),Chen(陈), Han(韩), Jiang(蒋), Yang(杨), Qin(秦), Xu(许),Lu(鲁), et al.
   
4. Occupational names –names that came from the names of occupation or position ancestors were engaged in. The great king Da Yu (大禹,2200BC?) was Sikong(司空), a position in change of irrigation works and engineering projects. Some of his descendants then took the position name Sikong as their family name. The family names like Bu(卜), Yu(庾),Ji(籍)，Shangguan (上官),Situ (司徒), Sikou(司寇) are all of this kind.
   
5. Nature names –names that derived from the names of mountains or rivers. The great King Huang Di was buried at Qiao Shan (a hill named Qiao and Shan means “hill” in Chinese) and some of his descendants had Qiao (the name of the hill) as their family name. Other names of this kind include Jiang(姜),Si (姒),Ji(姬),Gui(妫).
   
6. Place names –names that came from the name of place where ancestors lived. One of lord Lu Zhuang Gong’s sons lived near the east city wall inside the city Qufu and was called Mr Dongguo (东郭, meaning “east wall”). Later, his descendants took this Donggou as their family name. Here are more names of kind: Ximen (西门), Qiu (邱), Lü (闾), Hao(郝).
   
7. Clan names –names of clans that were adopted into family names. Those names were mostly found in minority nationalities of China. For example, Murong(慕容), Yuwen (宇文), and Huyan(呼延).
8. Title names –names that came from the posthumous titles of emperors, lords or dukes. For example, some of King Chu Zhuang Wang’s (楚庄王) descendants took his posthumous title “Zhuang”(庄) as their family name. Family names of Mu (穆), Wen (文), Kang (康) and Ding(丁) are of this kind.
   
9. Granted names –family names granted by emperors or kings. Emperor Liu Bang was the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty and his family name Liu became a big name. The emperor granted his family name “Liu” to people he like including one of his ministers Xiang Bo(项伯) for his past help and assistance in founding the dynasty.
   
10. Transcribed names –names that are transcribed from minority nationalities. In the Qing Dynasty there were eight major family names forms the minority nationality Man(满族) and each of the eight names had its transcribed into Chinese as Jin (金), Lang(郎), Guan(关), Shu (舒), Fu (傅) and Fei(费) are all transcribed names.

According to what is said in Dictionary of Chinese Family Names by Yuan Yida and Du Ruofu(《中华姓氏大字典》，袁义达，杜若甫编), there are about 11,969 family names recorded in standard Chinese among all the various nationalities of China, including 5,327 single-character family names, 4,329 two-character family names, 1,615 three-character family names, 569 four character family names, 96 five-character family names, 55 six-character family names, 7 seven-character family names, 3 eight-character family names and one nine-character family name. The system of Chinese family names is very complicated: there may be dozens of kinds if classified more precisely.

The latest study reveals that there are more than 20,000 family names in the Chinese history. The top three are Li (李), Wang(王) and Zhang(张), with the family name Li as the biggest.

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