Social Statistics Commons^™

About Chinese Names, Sheau-Yueh J. Chao

Publications and Research

In traditional Chinese society, the family (Chia) and the clan (tsu) play an indispensable role in establishing and sustaining the prevailing value system, in molding the life of individuals and in shaping a community's social relations into an orderly and stable pattern. This article includes the study of several important topics about the Chinese names. It details the significance of Chinese names and introduces the types of Chinese names and their meanings, followed by the historical development of surnames, clan names, and generation names. The article concludes with a statistical analysis of Chinese surname rankings and population in the United …