The 100 Most Common Chinese Family Names

 

The list of Chinese family names or surnames is much shorter than in other cultures. For example, the total number of surnames (of native Chinese people) in China is just over 4,000. In the US, there are well over 150,000 surnames that are held by more than 100 people. In total, the US has over 6 million surnames. Consider yourself lucky that you are learning Chinese!

Learning the common Chinese surnames can be very helpful when you are reading texts. If you see a group of 2 or 3 characters and the first character is one of these surnames, even if you don’t know the other characters, you can recognize that it is a person’s name and continue reading without wasting time to look up the meaning. Learning these surname characters will also help you to remember the names of Chinese people you meet, as the name will be more familiar to you. Even learning just the top 20 will be very useful. Get started!

 

1.            李           Lǐ

2.            王           Wáng

3.            张           Zhāng

4.            刘           Liú

5.            陈           Chén

6.            杨           Yáng

7.            赵           Zhào

8.            黄           Huáng

9.            周           Zhōu

10.          吴           Wú

11.          徐           Xú

12.          孙           Sūn

13.          胡           Hú

14.          朱           Zhū

15.          高           Gāo

16.          林           Lín

17.          何           Hé

18.          郭           Guō

19.          马           Mǎ

20.          罗           Luó

21.          梁           Liáng

22.          宋           Sòng

23.          郑           Zhèng

24.          谢           Xiè

25.          韩           Hán

26.          唐           Táng

27.          冯           Féng

28.          于           Yú

29.          董           Dǒng

30.          萧           Xiāo

31.          程           Chéng

32.          曹           Cáo

33.          袁           Yuán

34.          邓           Dèng

35.          许           Xǔ

36.          傅           Fù

37.          沈           Shěn

38.          曾           Zēng

39.          彭           Péng

40.          吕           Lǚ

41.          苏           Sū

42.          卢           Lú

43.          蒋           Jiǎng

44.          蔡           Cài

45.          贾           Jiǎ

46.          丁           Dīng

47.          魏           Wèi

48.          薛           Xuē

49.          叶           Yè

50.          阎           Yán

51.          余           Yú

52.          潘           Pān

53.          杜           Dù

54.          戴           Dài

55.          夏           Xià

56.          钟           Zhōng

57.          汪           Wāng

58.          田           Tián

59.          任           Rén

60.          姜           Jiāng

61.          范           Fàn

62.          方           Fāng

63.          石           Shí

64.          姚           Yáo

65.          谭           Tán

66.          盛           Shèng

67.          邹           Zōu

68.          熊           Xióng

69.          金           Jīn

70.          陆           Lù

71.          郝           Hǎo

72.          孔           Kǒng

73.          白           Bái

74.          崔           Cuī

75.          康           Kāng

76.          毛           Máo

77.          邱           Qiū

78.          秦           Qín

79.          江           Jiāng

80.          史           Shǐ

81.          顾           Gù

82.          侯           Hóu

83.          邵           Shào

84.          孟           Mèng

85.          龙           Lóng

86.          万           Wàn

87.          段           Duàn

88.          章           Zhāng

89.          钱           Qián

90.          汤           Tāng

91.          尹           Yǐn

92.          黎           Lí

93.          易           Yì

94.          常           Cháng

95.          武           Wǔ

96.          乔           Qiáo

97.          贺           Hè

98.          赖           Lài

99.          龚           Gōng

100.        文           Wén