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From: "Sally Rolls Pavia" <>
Subject: [GENEALOGYBITSANDPIECES] The Origin of Chinese Surnames
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:29:59 -0700

The Origin of Chinese Surnames
By Serena Seng, www.ChineseRoots.com

How is the Chinese surname derived? According to Mr. Kiang Kang Hu,
author of the book On Chinese Studies, there were 18 sources from
which surnames were derived:

·the name of a dynasty (Tang)
·feudal territory or division (Chiang, Huang)
·political district (Hong)
·town (Yin, Su)
·rural villages (Lu, Yen)
·cross-roads and stations (Mi)
·suburbs of direction (Tung-shiang, Xi-men)
·historical personage (Chin, Fu)
·use of a man's social name for a family name (Fang, Kung)
·a custom of adopting the appellation applied to a relative (Meng, Mi)
·clans or tribes (So, Chang)
·official posts (Shih, Shuai)
·titles of nobility (Wang, Hou)
·occupations of trades (Wu, Tao)
·objects (Chu, Up)
·posthumous titles of rulers (Wen)
·adding a diminutive to the parent name (Wang-tsu, Gong-sun)
·name of contempt applied to an evil-doer by a ruler (Fu, Mang)

http://genealogy.about.com/library/authors/ucboey2b.htm

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