- Hundred Family Surnames
The "Hundred Family Surnames" (zh-cp|c=百家姓|p=Bǎijiāxìng) is a classic Chinese text composed of common
surname s in ancient China. The book was composed in the earlySong Dynasty .K. S. Tom. [1989] (1989). Echoes from Old China: Life, Legends and Lore of the Middle Kingdom. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0824812859.] It originally contained 411 surnames, but was later expanded to 504. Of these, 444 are single-character surnames, and 60 are double-character surnames. About 800 names have been derived from the original ones. [Chen, Janey. [1992] (1992). A Practical English-Chinese Pronouncing Dictionary. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 0804818770]The work is a rhyming poem in lines of eight characters.
The surnames are not listed in order of popularity. The first four surnames listed are believed to derive from the most important families in the empire at the time:
* Zhao (趙) is the family name of the
Song Dynasty emperors.
* Qian (錢) is the family name of the kings ofWuyue .
* Sun (孫) is the family name of the queen of Wuyue.
* Li (李) is the family name of the kings ofSouthern Tang .Family names in the "Hundred Family Surnames"
Notes
See also
*
Chinese surname
*List of common Chinese surnames External links
* [http://ww1.cnd.org/GB/Classics/Others/Primers/100Names.gb.html Bai Jia Xing] at the "Chinese Classics" page of the "China News Digest"
* http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/3919/hundred.html
* [http://name.netor.com/wjx.asp The Ten-Thousand Families of Surnames from Netor (NETOR纪念:万家姓氏) (in simplified Chinese only)]
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