Exploring the mystery of Chinese surnames: For thousands of years, Chinese surnames have gone through vicissitudes and have evolved beyond simple national symbols into a profound cultural context. Some of the surnames are staggeringly unique, and they not only contain all kinds of interesting stories behind them, but also sometimes bring a little embarrassment to people.
As we all know, most Chinese surnames are familiar, but there are some that stand out in particular. For example, there are "east, west, north, south, and center" that point to the direction, "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, ninety, ......" that contains numbers, and "firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea" that are closely related to life. There are also some surnames that seem to be related to animals, such as "wolf, chicken, monkey, dog, snake, ......". What's even more surprising is that there are also some surnames that seem to have derogatory connotations, such as "concubine, scolding, evil, prostitution", etc. Unexpectedly, after the selection of some surname lovers, there are five surnames that topped the list of weird surnames, they are "death, difficulty, black, old, and poison". These five surnames do sound a little creepy.
However, these quirky surnames also constitute a unique landscape in the surname culture. If you dig deeper, these surnames all have rich historical origins behind them.
1. Death: This surname is the second-lowest surname in China, mainly distributed in the northwest of China. It is said that this surname originated from the four-character compound surname of ethnic minorities in the Northern Wei Dynasty and evolved through history. However, due to the special meaning of the word "death" in Chinese, people often avoid talking about it. But for those who already have the surname "Death", this reality can only be accepted, although it may come across as unlucky.
2. Difficult: This surname ranks first and last among Chinese surnames. This word is pronounced as going to the sound, and it is rumored that the surname "difficult" once moved north with the Xianbei people, and once renamed the Songhua River "Nanjiang". After many migrations, the Xianbei people with the surname Nan eventually set foot on the Korean Peninsula. Today, in China, the surname Nan is mainly distributed in a few small villages in Henan, where the surname "Nan" has been used for generations. Although the outside world may associate this word with unpleasant words such as disaster and difficulty, these people with difficult surnames live freely and freely.
3. Black: In most cultures, black often carries a bad omen. However, the pronunciation of "Hei", which is a surname, is "He", which may cause some embarrassment in practical application.
4. Old: There are two theories about the origin of the old surname. One theory is that the old surname is changed from the Manchu surname "Sakda" to the Han surname, which has a history of two or three hundred years, because "Sakda" means "old" in Manchu. Another theory points out that the surname Lao is one of the four major indigenous surnames in Foshan, Guangdong, and most of the villagers in Shilao Village, southwest of Nanhai District, have the surname Lao. This means that from the moment they are born, they are called "old X", and this "old" word will stay with them for the rest of their lives. For example, titles such as "old comrade", "old lady", "old girl", etc. are common. A lady named "Lao Yan" was deeply touched by this, and she had suffered a lot of embarrassment because of this surname.
5. Poison: This surname is said to have originated from a story of the Tang Dynasty. At that time, there was a prime minister named Dou Huaizheng, although he was in power, he intended to usurp the throne. However, his rebellious plan was discovered by the emperor and failed. In order to punish Dou Huaizheng, the emperor gave him and his descendants the surname "poison" according to the homonym of the word "Dou". This surname does sound intimidating, and who wants to deal with "Mr. Poison" or "Mrs. Poison"? Even if the people with these surnames are warm and friendly, they can make strangers feel a little intimidating. It is said that there is a family with a poisonous surname in the ditch of Taibao City, Chiayi County, Taiwan, whose ancestors were translators of the Qing Dynasty. Today, the family has produced a number of male offspring, and in some provinces on the mainland, the surname is also distributed.
These quirky surnames all have deep historical roots, some of which have existed since ancient times, and some of which have only appeared later. There are also surnames whose origins are legendary.
6. For example, someone has the surname "door". There are also different legends about the origin of the family name. One theory is that this surname is split from other surnames, such as the person who used to have the surname Yan, and later when the family was separated for some reason, the character Yan was divided into two, some of them had the surname of Men, and the other part of the family had the surname of three. Another theory is that the ancestor of the surname Men was originally surnamed Lin, but because someone on the ancestor offended the emperor, the emperor removed the word "Lin" from the head and heart, and the remaining part became the word "door". Of course, none of these claims can be conclusively proven.
7. There are also people with the surname "Mi (pronounced 'mì')". Most of the people with this surname moved in from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. According to literary and historical records, the surname Mi comes from the Fuxi clan in ancient times. In ancient times, Mi and Fu could be used universally, so the Fu surname was also called Mi. Fuxi was sometimes called Mixi in ancient times. For a long time, an elementary school teacher named Mi Xiaojun (pseudonym) had to correct the pronunciation of her surname to her students: "My surname is Mi (honey), not Bi." In fact, at first, not only students would mispronounce her surname, but even many colleagues and acquaintances often called her "Teacher Bi" or "Little Bi", because this surname is too rare and easy to mispronounce. But she no longer corrects this mistake - "It's better than being called 'Xiaomi', right?" It turns out that in life, although some people can pronounce her surname correctly, it sounds like "Xiaomi", which makes her feel uncomfortable.
8. Someone's surname is "ugly". According to legend, around the time of the Northern Song Dynasty, the daughter of the Su family in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, had a soft spot for a poor scholar surnamed Huang, but this love affair was strongly blocked by her family. In pursuit of their own happiness, the two decided to elope and finally chose to settle down in Hunan. Since both families believe that their actions are detrimental to the family's reputation, their descendants are not allowed to bear their original surnames. Since there has always been a saying in history that "Huang Chou does not separate his family", Huang Shusheng and Miss Su decided to let their descendants change their surnames to Chou. However, there is also information that the ugly surname actually originated from the surname Niu in the Spring and Autumn Period. The surname has also sparked some funny jokes. There is a lady named "Choyan Chun" (pseudonym) who started working after graduating from business school and has to deal with many people. Her unique surname makes her easy to remember, but it can also be embarrassing at times. Once, when Chou Yanchun met with a client, the client asked her last name, and she replied that it was Chou. The customer said with some displeasure: "This is a formal occasion, please don't joke!"
9. Some people have the surname "lotus". It is said that the lotus root family did not originally have the surname lotus. Their ancestor had been a court official who had offended the emperor and was forced to flee on his own. While evading capture, the ancestor hid in a pond and used lotus roots and lotus leaves as cover. At that time, the pursuers were approaching, and he silently prayed in his heart: "If I can escape this catastrophe, I will change my surname to 'Lotus'!" As a result, the pursuers really failed to find his traces. Since then, there has been a unique surname "Lotus" in the family tree.
10. It is said that there are also people who change their surnames because of "eating". In Yongle Township, Pizhou, Shaanxi Province, there is a village called Qijia Village, where many villagers have the surname "Qigan". The origin of this surname can be traced back to a historical story.
Legend has it that in the last years of the Warring States Period, a young prime minister of the Qin State, Gan Luo, was framed by the traitor Lü Buwei in the court, and finally died, and the whole family suffered a catastrophe, only an old man with the same surname in Ganfu survived. One day, the old man fled to a wilderness, and in the afternoon, he was hungry, but he did not dare to look for food. After a while, he felt dizzy and fainted on the side of the road. At this moment, a group of Qin Dynasty pursuers came to him, woke him up, and asked for his surname. At that time, the old man was so hungry that he couldn't even speak, but pointed to his mouth with his finger, showing a look of craving for food. The pursuers mistakenly thought that the old man was not surnamed Gan, but pointed to his mouth to indicate his surname "eat", so he let him go. Later, the old man lived in Yongle Qijia Village, Pizhou, married a wife and had children, and gave birth to a large family. In order to remember the life-saving word "eat", the old man did not forget the old kindness, combined the surname "Gan" with the surname "eat", so that the descendants all had the surname "Eat Gan". With the passage of time, "eating sweetness" has gradually evolved into today's "gan".
11. Some people change their surnames to escape disasters, but others change their surnames to commemorate glory. It is said that among Guan Zhong's descendants, there are those with the surname "Bai".
In 685 BC, Duke Huan of Qi (Xiaobai) and Gongzi Jie fought fiercely for the throne of Qi. At that time, Guan Zhong assisted Gongzi Jiao, but in the end it was Xiaobai who ascended the throne. However, after Duke Huan of Qi ascended the throne, he did not care about his previous suspicions, but worshiped Zhong as the prime minister, making Qi one of the most powerful countries at that time. In order to commemorate this glorious history of their ancestors, some of Guan Zhong's descendants decided to take the character "worship" of "worship" as their surname. Nowadays, the descendants of the surname Bai are mainly distributed in Jiangsu and other places.
As an important part of traditional culture, China's surname culture has a long history and rich connotations. And those strange and interesting surnames and the stories behind them add endless charm and charm to this cultural treasure.