Hou
侯 — Hóu
The 74th most common surname in China
74th of the 100 commonest surnames in mainland China (Ministry of Public Security top-100 report, edition released January 2020 for 2019, as tabulated by English Wikipedia). Chinese Wikipedia's 侯姓 article gives about 3 million people in mainland China in 2008, and ranks it 58th in Taiwan with just over 53,000 bearers (2018).
Where the name comes from
侯 was a rank of nobility, usually translated 'marquis', and the surname is taken from that title. Chinese Wikipedia's principal line runs through Marquis Min of Jin (晉侯緡), whose state was destroyed by Duke Wu of Quwo; his descendants fled abroad and adopted 侯 as their clan name. Chinese Wikipedia also lists a line from the ancestral name Si (姒), a tradition making the legendary character-inventor Cangjie a Hou ('倉帝史皇，姓侯，名岡，字頡，即倉頡'), and Xianbei and Jie families who took Hou on sinicisation.
The same name, spelled differently
A Chinese surname is a character, not a spelling. The Latin letters on a passport come from whichever dialect the name was written down from — so these are all 侯.
- HouMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- HauCantonese — Hong Kong; e.g. the Hau clan of Sheung Shui and the broadcaster Alyson Hau
The character
Outside a name, 侯 is an ordinary word meaning marquis, lord; target in archery.
- Strokes
- 9
- Radical
- 亻
- As a word
- hóu