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date: 14 December 2024

Chinese Family Names 

Source:
Dictionary of American Family Names
Author(s):
Mark LewellenMark Lewellen, Horace ChenHorace Chen

The exact number of Chinese surnames is unknown, but estimates range from 4,000 to 8,000, and more than 6,000 is a widely accepted figure. Perhaps only 2,000 of those surnames are in use today, however, and most of those occur rarely, so that a majority of the Chinese people share a remarkably small set of surnames. It is sometimes claimed that Chinese has only 100 (or 500) surnames, but this is a misconception that stems in part from a well-known list whose title is usually translated as “The Hundred Surnames”, and more accurately rendered as “The Many Surnames”, since the list contains roughly 500 names.... ...

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