Transliteration of Chinese family names into foreign languages poses a number of problems. Chinese surnames are shared by people speaking a number of dialects and languages which often have different pronunciations of their surnames. The into all parts of the world resulted in the Romanization of the surnames based on different languages. As a result, it is common for the same surname to be transliterated differently. In certain dialects, different surnames could be homonyms so it is common for family names to appear ambiguous when transliterated. Example: 鄭/郑 can be romanised into Chang, Cheng, Chung, Teh, Tay, Tee, Zeng or Zheng, . Translating Chinese surnames from foreign transliteration often presents ambiguity. For example, the surname "Li" are all mandarin-based pinyin tranliteration for the surnames 黎 ; 李, 理 and 里 ; 郦, 酈, 栗, 厉, 厲, and 利 depending on the which are often omitted in foreign transliterations.
Examples of variations in romanisation
Due to the different pronunciation and romanisations, it is generally easy to tell whether a Chinese person has origins in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Southeast Asia including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. In general people from mainland China will have both their surnames and names in pinyin. Those from Taiwan use Wade-Giles romanisation. People from Southeast Asia and Hong Kong usually base their romanisation of surnames and names on , and Cantonese dialects. The younger generation from Singapore predominantly have their surnames in dialect and names in pinyin.
There are also people who use non-standard romanisations, eg the Hong Kong media mogul 邵逸夫 Run Run Shaw's surname 邵 is spelt as Shaw, pinyin: Shao. The use of different systems of romanisation based on different Chinese language variants during the 1900~1970 also contributed to the variations.
Eg.
| Written form | Pinyin | Wade-Giles | Min Nan / Cantonese | Cantonese | English meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 陈/陳 | Chen | Ch'en | Tan | Chan | arrange; exhibit; narrate; tell; old; stale; to state; to display; to explain |
| 关/ 關 | Guan | Kuan | Kwang/Kuang | Kwan | gate, gateway, mountain pass; to close; to shut; to turn off; to concern; to involve |
| 何 | He | Ho | Ho/Hoe | Ho | carry; what; how; why; which |
| 黃 | Huang | Huang | Ooi/Oei/Wee/Ng | Wong | sulfur; yellow |
| 简/ 簡 | Jian | Chien | Kan/Gan | simple | |
| 金 | Jin | Chin | Kim | Kam | gold |
| 林 | Lin | Lin | Lim | Lam | woods; forest |
| 王 | Wang | Wang | Ong | Wong | king |
| 吴/ 吳 | Wu | Wu | Goh | Ng | |
| 许/ 許 | Xu | Hsü | Koh | Hui/Hua | to allow; to permit; to praise |
| 张/ 張 | Zhang | Chang | Teo/Chong | Cheung | a measure word for flat objects like paper or tables; open up |
| 赵/ 趙 | Zhao | Chao | Chew | Chiu |
Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia/Philippines: some people use Pinyin or other spellings depending on their origin.
Please refer to the List of common Chinese surnames for the different spellings and more examples.
The sociological use of surnames
Throughout most of Chinese history, surnames have served sociological functions. Because of their association with the aristocratic elite in their early developments, surnames were often used as symbols of nobility. Thus nobles would use their surnames to be able to trace their ancestry and compete for seniority in terms of hereditary rank. Examples of early among the royalty can be found in Sima Qian's ''Historical Records'', which contain tables recording the descent lines of noble houses called ''shibiao'' .
Later, during the Han Dynasty, these tables were used by prominent families to glorify themselves and sometimes even to legitimise their political power. For example, Cao Pi, who forced the abdication of the last Han emperor in his favour, claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor. Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honours. Unlike European practice in which some surnames are obviously noble, Chinese emperors and members of the royal family had regular surnames except in cases where they came from non-Han ethnic groups. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the Mandate of Heaven and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.
The Tang Dynasty was the last period when the great aristocratic families, mostly descended from the nobility of pre-Qin states, held significant centralised and regional power. The surname was used as a source of prestige and common allegiance. During the period a large number of genealogical records called ''pudie'' were compiled to trace the complex descent lines of clans and their marriage ties to other clans. A large number of these were collected by Ouyang Xiu in his ''New History of Tang''.
During the Song Dynasty, ordinary clans began to organise themselves into corporate units and produce genealogies. This trend was led by the poet Su Shi and his father. As competition for resources and positions in the bureaucracy intensified, individuals used their common ancestry and surname to promote solidarity. They established schools to educate their sons and held common lands to aid disadvantaged families. Ancestral temples were also erected to promote surname identity. Clan cohesion was usually encouraged by successive imperial governments since it aided in social stability. During the Qing Dynasty surname associations often undertook extra-judicial roles, providing primitive legal and social security functions. They played important roles in the Chinese diaspora to South-East Asia and elsewhere, providing the infrastructure for the establishment of trading networks. In southern China, however, clans sometimes engaged in armed conflict in competition for land. Of course, clans continued the tradition of tracing their ancestry to the distant past as a matter of prestige. Most of these origin myths, though well established, are spurious.
As a result of the importance of surnames, rules and traditions regarding family and marriage grew increasingly complex. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called "double Liao" surname. The story is that the founder of the clan was adopted and so took the surname Liao, but in honor of his ancestors, he demanded that he be buried with the surname Chen. As a result, his descendants use the surname Liao while alive and the surname Chen after death. In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of the same surname, considered to be closely related. Conversely, in some areas, there are different clans with the same surname which are not considered to be related, but even in these cases surname exogamy is generally practiced.
Surname identity and solidarity has declined markedly since the 1930s with the decline of Confucianism and later, the rise of Communism in Mainland China. During the Cultural Revolution, surname culture was actively persecuted by the government with the destruction of ancestral temples and genealogies. Moreover, the influx of Western culture and forces of globalisation have also contributed to erode the previous sociological uses of the Chinese surname.
Common Chinese surnames
According to a study by Li Dongming , a Chinese historian, as published in the article "Surname" in ''Dongfang Magazine'' , the common Chinese surnames are:
Top 10 surnames, which together account for about 40% of Chinese people in the world. Many surnames have various ways of romanization, the following listed spellings include Hanyu Pinyin, which is the standard in the and Singapore, and other commonly used spellings.
李, 王, 張/张, 趙/赵, 陳/陈, 楊/杨, 吳/吴, 劉/刘, 黃/黄, 周
The 11th to 20th common surnames, which together account for more than 10% of Chinese people in the world:
徐, 朱, 林, 孫/孙, 馬/马, 高, 胡, 鄭/郑, Guo 郭, 蕭/萧/肖
The 21st to 30th common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:
謝/谢, 何, 許/许, 宋, Shen 沈, Luo 羅/罗, 韓/韩, 鄧/邓, Liang 梁, 葉/叶
The next 15 common surnames, which together account for about 10% of Chinese people in the world:
方, Cui 崔, Cheng 程、 潘, 曹, Feng 馮/冯, Wang 汪, 蔡, 袁, Lu 盧/卢, Tang 唐, Qian 錢/钱, Du 杜, 彭, Lu 陸/陆
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