Top 100 Chinese Surnames
王, 李, 张 and the rest of the top 100 family names — with pinyin, audio, meanings, and the readings that only apply to names
Means "king" — the most common surname in China (~100M people).
Means "plum tree"; the Tang-dynasty imperial family name.
Originally "to draw a bow" — the archer's surname.
The Han-dynasty imperial surname.
From the ancient state of Chen; #1 in southern China and Taiwan.
Means "poplar tree".
Means "yellow"; very common in the south (often romanized Wong).
The Song-dynasty imperial surname — first in the classic 百家姓 list.
From the ancient state of Wu around modern Jiangsu.
From the Zhou dynasty, China's longest.
From the ancient state of Xu.
Means "grandchild"; Sun Tzu (孙子) wrote The Art of War.
Means "horse"; common among Hui Muslims (from Muhammad).
Means "vermilion red"; the Ming-dynasty imperial surname.
An ancient state name; also "beard".
Means "outer city wall".
Same origin as 韩 Hán — a sound change preserved the split.
Means "forest"; hugely common in Fujian and Taiwan (Lim/Lam).
From the ancient state of Luo; means "net".
Means "tall, high".
As a surname always Zēng — never céng.
As a surname read Rén (2nd tone), not rèn.
Means "gold"; the same character as Korean Kim.
Means "bear".
Means "white".
The surname of Mencius (孟子).
From the Qin dynasty — the origin of the word "China".
Means "river".
Means "thunder".
Means "dragon".
Means "history, scribe".
Means "ten thousand".
Means "money".
As a surname usually Qín (also Tán in some families).
Means "martial"; the surname of Wu Zetian, China's only empress.
The surname of Confucius (孔子).
Means "soup" in modern Chinese.
China has famously few surnames for its size: the top 100 cover roughly 85% of the population, and the top five — 王 Wáng, 李 Lǐ, 张 Zhāng, 刘 Liú, 陈 Chén — are each shared by tens of millions of people. This list ranks the hundred most common by census population, with pinyin, audio, and origin notes.
Surnames are also a pronunciation trap: several characters change reading when used as a family name. 曾 is céng in ordinary text but Zēng as a surname; 任 becomes Rén; 覃 is usually Qín. Getting a person's name wrong is the one pronunciation error natives reliably notice — play the audio before you meet your teacher, colleague or in-laws.
What are the most common Chinese surnames?
王 Wáng, 李 Lǐ, 张 Zhāng, 刘 Liú and 陈 Chén top the census — together over 400 million people. 王 and 李 have both been the world's most common surname at various counts.
Why do some characters read differently as surnames?
Family names preserve older readings that everyday usage moved away from. The classic traps: 曾 Zēng (not céng), 任 Rén (not rèn), 单 Shàn, 解 Xiè, 覃 Qín. Our audio uses the surname reading.
Does the surname come first in Chinese?
Yes — 王小明 is surname 王 + given name 小明, so "Mr. Wang". Address people as surname + title (王老师, Teacher Wang) rather than by given name unless you are close.
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