Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the Western tradition in which surnames are written last. Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but the great proportion of Han Chinese people use only a relatively small number of these surnames; 19 surnames are used by around half of the Han Chinese people, while 100 surnames are used by around 87% of the population. A report in 2019 gives the most common Chinese surnames as Wang and Li, each shared by over 100 million people in China. The remaining eight of the top ten most common Chinese surnames are Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu and Zhou.
Zhang ( ) is the third most common surname in China and Taiwan, and it is one of the most common surnames in the world. Zhang is the pinyin romanization of the very common Chinese surname written 张 in simplified characters and 張 in traditional characters. It is spoken in the first tone: Zhāng. It is a surname that exists in many languages and cultures, corresponding to the surname 'Archer' in English for example. In the Wade-Giles system of romanization, it is romanized as "Chang", which is commonly used in Taiwan; "Cheung" is commonly used in Hong Kong as a romanization.
Lee is a common surname in English-speaking countries.
Nguyễn is the most common surname of the Vietnamese people.
Chang is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname 常 (Cháng). It was listed 80th among the Song-era Hundred Family Surnames.
Cài is a Chinese-language surname that derives from the name of the ancient Cai state. In 2019 it was the 38th most common surname in China, but the 9th most common in Taiwan, where it is usually romanized as "Tsai", "Tsay", or "Chai" and the 8th most common in Singapore, where it is usually romanized as "Chua", which is based on its Teochew and Hokkien pronunciation. Koreans use Chinese-derived family names and in Korean, Cai is 채 in Hangul, "Chae" in Revised Romanization, It is also a common name in Hong Kong where it is romanized as "Choy", "Choi" or "Tsoi". In Macau, it is spelled as "Choi". In Malaysia, it is romanized as "Choi" from the Cantonese pronunciation, and "Chua" or "Chuah" from the Hokkien or Teochew pronunciation. It is romanized in the Philippines as "Chua" or "Chuah", and in Thailand as "Chuo" (ฉั่ว). Moreover, it is also romanized in Cambodia as either "Chhay" or "Chhor" among people of full Chinese descent living in Cambodia and as “Tjhai”, "Tjoa" or "Chua" in Indonesia.
Quán is the Pinyin romanization of the Chinese family names 權/权 and 全, as well as a customary spelling of 關. All written forms of the name are rare enough that they do not appear in the list of the 100 most common Chinese surnames.
Lei is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname 雷 (Léi). It is the 69th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem.
Tan is a common Chinese surname 譚, and is considered the 56th most common.
Su is the pinyin romanization of the common Chinese surname written 苏 in simplified characters and 蘇 traditionally.
As a surname, Chong may refer to:
Bong is a surname in various cultures.
Loi is a surname. It has various origins, including as a spelling of three Chinese surnames, a traditional surname from Sardinia, and a surname in India from the word loi meaning "scheduled caste" in the Meitei language.
Tong is a Chinese surname. Tong as transcribed in English however represents of a number of different Chinese surnames.
Ching is a Chinese and English surname.
Lí is a Chinese surname. It mostly appears in Central and South China where it is transliterated as Lai or Lei.
Li or Lee is a common Chinese surname, it is the 4th name listed in the famous Hundred Family Surnames. Li is one of the most common surnames in Asia, shared by 92.76 million people in China, and more than 100 million in Asia. It is the second-most common surname in China as of 2018, the second-most common surname in Hong Kong, the most common surname in Macau and the 5th most common surname in Taiwan, where it is usually romanized as "Lee". The surname is pronounced as in Cantonese, Lí (poj) in Taiwanese Hokkien, but is often spelled as "Lee" in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and many overseas Chinese communities. In Macau, it is also spelled as "Lei". In Indonesia it is commonly spelled as "Lie". The common Korean surname, "Lee", and the Vietnamese surname, "Lý", are both derived from Li and written with the same Chinese character (李). The character also means "plum" or "plum tree".
Seng is a Cambodian, Chinese, German, and Korean surname.
