Chinese surnames
Li, Wang, Zhang
Chinese surnames precede given names and are typically one syllable, drawn from a pool of only a few hundred common options.
Unlike Western naming conventions, the surname comes first: in Mao Zedong, Mao is the family name.
The five most common—Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, and Chen—account for hundreds of millions of people.
When Chinese names are rendered in Western contexts, the order is sometimes reversed, causing confusion about which element is the surname.
- HanziChinese logographic writing system
- familyRelated people together
- CantoneseSouthern Chinese dialect
- PinyinMandarin transliteration system
- romanizationScript-to-alphabet conversion process
sinicization · name change · marriage customs · one-child policy · patronymic · regional variations · Mandarin · homophones · Chen · clan · lineage · genealogy · Li · ancestor · ancestral hall · Yang · dynasty · village