Xiao
萧 · traditionally 蕭 — Xiāo
The 33rd most common surname in China
Where the name comes from
The name comes from Xiao, a dependency of the state of Song granted to the nobleman Xiao Shu Daxin (蕭叔大心) for his services; its site is northwest of modern Xiao County in Anhui, and Chu destroyed it in 597 BC. The clan's standing was made by Xiao He (257–193 BC), the first chancellor of the Han dynasty. Later branches settled at Lanling in Shandong and, after the Disaster of Yongjia drove them south, founded a "Southern Lanling" at Danyang in Jiangsu.
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 萧.
- XiaoMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- Siu / ShiuCantonese — Hong Kong
- SiewCantonese and Hakka — Malaysia
- Siau / SioHokkien (Pe̍h-ōe-jī)
- Seow / SiowHokkien and Teochew — Malaysia
- SeuHakka
- TiêuVietnamese
- HsiaoWade–Giles — Taiwan
The character
Outside a name, 萧 is an ordinary word meaning mournful, desolate; common Artemisa.
- Strokes
- 11
- Radical
- 艹
- Traditional
- 蕭
- As a word
- xiāo
Words built from 萧
The character does ordinary work in the language too. Each of these is a real word you can look up.