All Chinese surnames
朱
Zhu
朱 · traditionally 硃 — Zhū
The 14th most common surname in China
May 27, 2026
Where the name comes from
The surname comes from the small state of Zhu (邾), whose ruling house carried the ancestral name Cao. Later renamed Zou, the state was annexed by Chu during the reign of King Xuan of Chu (369–340 BC). Its ruling family and their descendants then took 朱 as a surname in memory of the state they had lost.
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 朱.
- ZhuMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- ChuCantonese
- ChooHokkien
- GeeTaishanese
The character
Outside a name, 朱 is an ordinary word meaning cinnabar, vermilion.
- Strokes
- 6
- Radical
- 木
- Traditional
- 硃
- As a word
- zhū
Words built from 朱
The character does ordinary work in the language too. Each of these is a real word you can look up.