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All Chinese surnames

Ma

· traditionally 馬

The 13th most common surname in China

May 27, 2026

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 马.

  • MaMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
  • BehSouthern Min (Hokkien and Teochew) — Malaysian Chinese communities

The character

Outside a name, 马 is an ordinary word meaning horse.

Strokes
3
Radical
Traditional
As a word
See 马 in the dictionary →

Words built from 马

The character does ordinary work in the language too. Each of these is a real word you can look up.

Sources