100 Chinese Surnames Sorry Wang Number
Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
Sorry, Wang Number!
Adapted from "Magic Xiamen--Guide to Xiamen" (within China)
"Magic Xiamen--Guide to Xiamen" (outside China)
Chinese have about 8,000 surnames, with Han Chinese using about 3,050 of them. But roughly 87 percent of Han Chinese share the same 100 or so most common names�hence �the people� is expressed �Old 100 Names� (L?ob?ix�ng, ???). The three most common surnames, L? (?), W�ng (?), and Zh?ng (?), are used by about 250 million Chinese�almost the population of the U.S.A.! Over 100 million people are surnamed Zh?ng.
Just imagine if all Americans were L?, Zh?ng, or W�ng. You could dial the W�ng number 1/3 of the time! Do that to your girlfriend and she might give you the old �Dear Zhang Letter� (unless she gives you some L? way).
Forty percent of Chinese share the 10 most common surnames. Zhang (?), W�ng (?), L? (?), Zh�o (?), Ch�n (?), Y�ng (?), W� (?), Li� (?), Hu�ng (?) and Zh?u (?). Chinese surnames are passed down through the father, but women keep their family name even after marriage.
In old days, it was a capital crime to speak the Emperor�s name aloud, or even to have the same name as the Emperor�which must have created havoc when the Emperor had the same name as 50 million others. When Li? B?ng (??) became emperor during the H�n Dynasty (?? 206 BC to 23 AD), people surnamed "B?ng" faced either a name change or a bang in the head (this was the Chinese Big B?ng Theory). This en masse name changing probably drove census takers out of their senses.
In more recent times, given names reflected parents desire for their childrens happiness�or for their political correctness. During the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution, children were named �Flourishing China� (X�nggu�, ??), or �Build the Army� (Ji�nj�n, ??), �Love Country� (?ihu� ??), or �National Day� (Gu�q�ng ??). And �Red�, of course, was a major theme of many names. Imagine naming your little one �Face the Red� (Ch�oh�ng ??), Forever Red (Yonghong ??), �Red Soldier� (H�ngb?ng ??). No wonder so many of that generation saw red.
Nowadays parents are more likely to give names that emphasize economics over politics: Zh�f� (??) means to get rich.
Generally, women�s names have words relating to beauty, nature, jewelry, etc. Examples: �Beautiful� (M?i ?), �Flower� (Hu? ?) or �Graceful� (T�ng ? ). Mens names reflect strength or military bearing: �Steel� (Gang1 ?) or �Strong Pine� (Jin4song1 ??).
In my youth, I too was nicknamed after a pine: knothead.
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