A Chinese compound surname is a Chinese surname using more than one character. Many of these compound surnames derive from Zhou dynasty Chinese noble and official titles, professions, place names and other areas, to serve a purpose. Some are originally from various tribes that lived in ancient China, while others were created by joining two one-character family names. Only a few of these names (e.g. Ouyang [歐陽/欧阳], Shangguan [上官], Sima [司馬/司马], Zhuge [諸葛/诸葛], Situ [司徒], Xiahou [夏侯], Huangfu [皇甫], and Huyan [呼延]) can still be found quite commonly in modern times with Ouyang, Shangguan, Sima and Situ appearing most frequently. Many clans eventually took on a single-character surname for various reasons.[why?] Lists below are arranged alphabetically by their Mandarin pinyin spellings.
Double-barrelled surname (雙姓) occurs sometimes when both families of a marriage wish to pass down their surnames, or when a child wishes to commemorate both the biological and foster parents. This is often distinguished from compound surnames (複姓), which cannot be split into two single-character surnames. A doubled-barrelled surname is also distinguished from a married name (冠夫姓), as married names are not passed down to the next generations.
Peoples other than Han have resided in China and have their names transliterated into Chinese. A large number of these non-Han surnames contain more than one Chinese character.
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