Wu
吴 · traditionally 吳 — Wú
The 9th most common surname in China
Ninth most common surname in mainland China (Ministry of Public Security 2019 National Name Report, CGTN, 21 January 2020); a 2013 study found 26,800,000 bearers, 2.0% of the population, with Guangdong the province holding the most. It is the seventh most common surname in Taiwan.
Where the name comes from
The surname comes from the ancient state of Wu, in what is now Jiangsu. King Tai of Zhou wanted the succession to pass to his youngest son Jili; his elder sons Taibo and Zhongyong stepped aside, went south among the Jing tribes and were made leaders of a state called Gouwu (句吳). When Wu was finally destroyed by Yue, their descendants took the state's name as their surname — which is why Wu (吳), Zhou (周) and the royal Ji (姬) are historically one house.
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 吴.
- WuMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- NgCantonese and Hakka — Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia
- Goh / GoMin Nan
- Ngo / Ngoh / GouwMin Nan regional variants
- WooShanghainese (Wu)
The character
Outside a name, 吴 is an ordinary word meaning one of several warring states.
- Strokes
- 7
- Radical
- 口
- Traditional
- 吳
- As a word
- wú
Other surnames read “Wu”
Romanised the same way, but a different character and a different family.