Hu (
胡) is a
Chinese surname. In 2006, it was the 15th most common
surname in
China.[1][2] In 2013, it was the 13th most common in China, with 13.7 million Chinese sharing this surname.[3] In 2019, Hu dropped to 15th most common surname in Mainland China.[4]
Some other, less common surnames pronounced Hu include
瓠,
護,
戶,
扈,
虎,
呼,
忽,
斛 and
壶. In Cantonese, “胡” is also pronounced as "Wu" or "Woo".
According to tradition, the Hu (胡) surname has several historical origins. First, Hu could derive from the family of
Duke Hu of Chen.
King Wu of Zhou (r. 1046-043 BCE)
enfeoffed his son-in-law Gui Man 媯滿 (supposedly a descendant of the legendary sage king
Emperor Shun) with the state of
Chen (in modern
Henan Province). His
posthumous name was Duke Hu, and some of his descendants adopted Hu as their surname. Second, Hu could derive from two Zhou vassal states named Hu 胡, one located near
Luohe (
Henan Province) or another near
Fuyang (
Anhui Province). Third, Hu could derive from non-Chinese people adopting it as their surname. For example, in the 496
Change of Xianbei names to Han names, Hegu/Gegu 紇骨 was changed to Hu 胡. Fourth, Hu could derive from the clan name of the ancient
Tiele people within the Xiongnu confederation.[citation needed]
Non-Chinese peoples and
ethnic minorities in China sometimes took the Chinese
exonym for their ethnic group as their surname. The best example is Hu 胡, which was anciently used to refer to "barbarian" groups on the northern and western frontiers of China.
Hu (胡) was used for various northern and western peoples of non-Han Chinese stock. It has been used for people of Persian, Sogdian, Turkic,
Xianbi, Indian and Kushan origin and occasionally for the
Xiongnu (probably because of their connections with the Tonghu or Eastern Hu – a separate tribe conquered by the Xiongnu).[6]
Two historically significant Hu names are Donghu 東胡 (literally "Eastern Barbarians") "ancient Mongolian nomadic group" and the Wu Hu 五胡 ("
Five Barbarians") "five nomadic tribes involved in the
Wu Hu uprising" (304-316 CE) against the
Jin dynasty. Hu (
Foochow Romanized: Hù;
POJ: Hô or Ô) was also one of the eight surnames of the first Han Chinese clans who first moved out the
Central Plains into
Fujian province (八姓入閩;
Foochow Romanized: Báik Sáng Ĭk Mìng) during this conflict.[citation needed]
The Hồ 胡 clan which founded the
Hồ dynasty in Vietnam originated in
Zhejiang province of China.[7][8]
Based on a study in 2020, Hu is a common surname in Italy due to significant amount of
immigration population from Zhejiang.[17][18]
The surname 虎 (Hǔ), which means "Tiger", is rare in China to the point where many people are not aware that it is used as a surname. Some believe it comes from the name of a 4,300-year-old chancellor, while others believe it originates among the
Hui Muslim minority.[19][20][21]
^Bernhard Karlgren. Grammata Serica Recensa. Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities. 1957:34.
^Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE, p. 192. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina.
ISBN978-1-4392-2134-1.
This page lists people with the
surnameHu. If an
internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that
link by adding the person's
given name(s) to the link.