Common and Popular Chinese Last Names: Top 100 List With Meanings

王What Is the Single Most Common Chinese Last Name?

Wang (王 “wahng”), meaning king, sits at number one. Roughly 101.5 million people in China carry it.

Wang is also the top name in 16 parts of China. These include Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, and Henan. The ministry shared this in its 2019 report.

Li (李 “lee”) trails by a hair, about 600,000 people. Li means plum tree, and it wins among newborns. Parents registered 726,000 baby Lis in 2020.

So which is the most common last name in China? It depends on what you count. Wang leads among all people today. Li leads among new babies. Both names are giants, each with about 100 million people.

十What Are the Top 10 Most Common Chinese Last Names?

Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu, and Zhou make up the top 10 most common Chinese last names. Each one has more than 20 million people.

Here are the top 10 Chinese last names, ranked, with meanings and headcounts. Head counts are from the 2018 report, and ranks are from 2020.

The top 5 Chinese last names tower over the rest, so they are the most popular Chinese last names by far. Wang, Li, and Zhang each outnumber all of Germany. Liu and Chen each pass 60 million.

Look at the Chinese last name meanings too. Kings, trees, bows, and colors fill the top of the list. Many names in this group began as the names of small, old states.

廿Which Chinese Last Names Rank From 11 to 20?

Xu, Sun, Ma, Zhu, Hu, Guo, He, Lin, Gao, and Luo rank from 11 to 20. Each one has more than 10 million people.

Every name in this band is still huge. Ma, for instance, rules Qinghai and Ningxia. Here are ranks 11 to 20, as listed in 2020.

Gao and Luo swap places from year to year. In later reports, Luo moved up to 19th. The gap between them is very small.

The top 20 hold more than half of China's people. That is why these Chinese common last names come up in almost every classroom and office.

同Why Do Chinese People Have the Same Last Names So Often?

Chinese surnames have passed from parent to child for over 2,000 years. Over time, small names joined big ones. The big ones kept growing.

There are four main reasons. First, most surnames began with a small group of old clans. Second, kings gave their own name to helpers and heroes. The Tang kings, for example, gave the name Li to many families.

Third, small families often joined a strong clan nearby. Fourth, many minority groups adopted large Han names across the centuries. Many Hui Muslim families in Qinghai and Ningxia, for instance, are named Ma.

1. A few old clansMost names began there
2. Names given by kingsThe Tang kings gave out Li
3. Joining a strong clanSmall families merged
4. Minority groupsMany adopted Han names, like Ma

Put together, this left China with roughly 6,150 surnames in use. The 2010 U.S. census, by contrast, listed about 6.3 million. That gap explains why a Chinese name repeats so often.

省Which Last Name Leads in Each Part of China?

Wang leads in the north, while Chen, Li, and Huang lead in parts of the south. Each region has its own favorite name.

The 2019 national name report listed the top surname in each province. The table below shows the results.

Chen's strength in the south shapes popular Chinese last names around the world. Many families who moved abroad came from Fujian and Guangdong. That is why Chen, Tan, and Chan are so common in Singapore, Malaysia, and the United States.

谚"Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, and Liu Everywhere"

In China, there is an old saying that every child learns. It goes, "Zhang Wang Li Zhao bian di Liu." It means "Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, and Liu are everywhere." Picture a teacher reading names in a big school in Henan. Three students answer to Wang. Two answer to Li. One more Zhang raises a hand at the back. The class laughs, because this happens every year. The saying is hundreds of years old. And the numbers still prove it true today. Four of those five names sit in the top eight.

名What Are the Most Common Chinese First and Last Names?

Zhang Wei (张伟 “jahng-way”) is the most common full name in China. It led the 2019 national list of full names.

The next most common Chinese first and last names were Wang Wei, Li Na, Wang Fang, and Li Wei. Wang Jing, Li Jing, Zhang Min, Liu Wei, and Zhang Jing completed the top ten. Men and women share several of these names.

1. Zhang Wei张伟“jahng-way”
2. Wang Wei王伟“wahng-way”
3. Li Na李娜“lee-nah”
4. Wang Fang王芳“wahng-fahng”
5. Li Wei李伟“lee-way”
6. Wang Jing王静“wahng-jing”
7. Li Jing李静“lee-jing”
8. Zhang Min张敏“jahng-min”
9. Liu Wei刘伟“lyoh-way”
10. Zhang Jing张静“jahng-jing”

Notice the pattern. Every name pairs a top surname with a short, one-character first name. Wei means great. Na means elegant. Fang means fragrant.

Parents today pick longer and newer first names. In 2020, the top boy name for newborns was Yichen (奕辰 “yee-chun”). The top girl name was Yinuo (一诺 “yee-nwaw”). This helps new babies stand out, even with a common last name.

少Which Chinese Last Names Are Less Common?

Uncommon Chinese last names are the thousands of names outside the top 100. Chang (常 “chahng”) and Tang (汤 “tahng”) sat just outside the list in 2019, at 101 and 102.

Each year, a few names cross the line. Wan (万 “wahn”) and Ou (欧 “oh”) climbed into the top 100 in 2019. They had about 2.75 million and 2.61 million people.

Even names outside the top 100 can be big. Many still have more than a million people. The least common Chinese last names, by contrast, belong to just a few families each.

变How Has the Chinese Last Name Ranking Changed?

Li once held first place, but Wang took the lead in the newest reports. The top five names have stayed the same for decades.

A 1987 study by Yuan Yida and Du Ruofu put Li in first place. Later counts, using full police records, put Wang slightly ahead. Since 2018, Wang has led every yearly report.

1. 1987Yuan Yida and Du Ruofu study: Li is first
2. 2018Full police records: Wang leads every report since
3. 2020Ma reaches 13th, up from 19th in 1987

The middle of the list shifts a little more. Ma, for example, climbed from 19th in 1987 to 13th in 2020. Gao and Luo keep trading places at 19th and 20th.

This shows how stable Chinese last names by popularity really are. The same small group has led for hundreds of years. Only the order inside it moves.

问What Else Do People Ask About Common Chinese Last Names?