Liao
廖 — Liào
The 60th most common surname in China
About 4.87 million people, 0.37% of the population, ranked 58th, most numerous in Guangdong (Yuan Yida and Qiu Jiaru, survey of China's 400 largest surnames, Fuxi Institution, 2013); 60th most common surname in mainland China in the Ministry of Public Security's 2019 national name report. It is the 18th largest surname in Taiwan.
Where the name comes from
The oldest line goes to Shu'an (叔安), a descendant of the legendary emperor Zhuanxu, enfeoffed at the state of Liao (廖, also written 飂) in what is now western Tanghe County, Henan; he is honoured as the founding ancestor of the surname. A second line comes from the Yan (偃) clan, descendants of the sage Gaoyao, granted the territory of Liao (蓼) at modern Gushi County, Henan, under the Xia. A third is adoptive: in the Yuan dynasty Zhang Yuanzi of Zhao'an, Fujian married into a Liao household and took their name.
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 廖.
- LiaoMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- LiuCantonese — Hong Kong (government romanisation)
- LiewCantonese and Hakka
- LeowCantonese and Hokkien
- LiauHokkien and Hakka
- LiowHokkien / Min Nan
- Liêu / LiệuSino-Vietnamese — Vietnam
The character
Outside a name, 廖 is an ordinary word meaning deserted, empty, few.
- Strokes
- 14
- Radical
- 广
- As a word
- liào