Strange Surnames (as in not too common)

[Demonic_Duck]

10 hours ago, imron said:

it's likely to be different from the standard pronunciation (see 曾、单 etc).

Just to confuse things even further, 现代汉语规范词典 mentions...

 

注意 “单(shàn)”和“单(dān)”是两个不同的姓。

 

I think surname 单 Dān must be pretty rare though.

[Jim]

I've had that name in my current translation and went for Shan. It's been adapted for TV so I suppose I could check the pronunciation through that but I'll take my chances.

[roddy]

On 10/26/2007 at 3:52 AM, LiYuanXi said:

I have a friend with the surname 龚. It's an official surname but it's not so common.

13 years later, I come across your friend in a translation. Or someone else of the same surname. 

[FlyingSesame]

Those surnames comprising two words (aka 复姓) instead one are quite rare. Examples include 欧阳 (Ouyang)， 上官 (Shangguan), 令狐(Linghu)。

[Jim]

On 6/12/2010 at 11:59 AM, carlo said:

A village where everyone bears the surname 第五.

Wangyi had a little video on this village and the origins of this surname today: https://v.163.com/static/3/VK1RVT7PI.html

[Jim]

Had a couple of interesting ones mentioned in my current work piece, both calligraphers inter alia:

 

揭傒斯 https://baike.baidu.com/item/揭傒斯

康里巎巎 https://baike.baidu.com/item/康里巎巎

 

Before I checked I guessed Jie's name was all one word and a non-Sinitic language. 

[Dlezcano]

卞 is one of the worst surnames you can have in China. Found it in a zhihu article about bad sounding Chinese names.

[Jim]

甪 is a surname as well as a placename and also in a复姓, 甪里. Didn't recognise it at first and thought the stroke at top was a speck on the screen.

[Publius]

Actually I don't think 甪 is a surname. It's a shorthand for 甪里先生 in which 甪里 is a place name. According to a Ming scholar, 甪里先生's surname is 周. (source: 汉语大词典)

[Jim]

That's what I get for using a cheap dictionary! The claim was of a  甪里若叔 in the Later Han, is that the same guy as in your reference?

[Publius]

No, it doesn't seem to be the same guy. 甪里先生 was one of the four hermits from late Qin who when Han replaced Qin ignored 刘邦's summons.

[Jim]

Never sure if these stories are made up, but the surname mentioned apparently exists: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HNdctuwSx6_mSxGOu_AWcQ

丶zhu https://baike.baidu.com/item/丶/5224041

[Lu]

On 8/23/2017 at 12:13 PM, Publius said:

Off the top of my head, some people I know with relatively rare surnames:

索 (middle school)

Last week I watched a wuxia movie in which the main character's name was 素还真. I wouldn't even have posted it as a rare surname because I didn't really believe it was a real-world surname, but apparently it is! I had never seen it before.

[Lu]

Recently met a journalist surnamed 德. Turned out he was Mongolian, I think that explains the unusual surname. His given name was an extremely normal Han Chinese name.

[Lu]

陆费 Lùbì. As seen in the Shanghai History Museum. I know a few two-character family names, but this one was totally new to me, and with its own unique pronunciation even.

[honglam]

On 11/8/2023 at 8:34 PM, Lu said:

陆费 Lùbì. As seen in the Shanghai History Museum. I know a few two-character family names, but this one was totally new to me, and with its own unique pronunciation even.

It's a typical combined surname by marriage. 

[Lu]

Did a handicraft workshop today and the teacher was a Chinese woman surnamed Ben. I had never seen that as a Chinese surname, so I asked her afterwards how it is written, and it's 贲. It is indeed very rare, she said, not even one of the Hundred Surnames.

[honglam]

On 11/11/2024 at 2:33 AM, Lu said:

贲

It IS a rare surname, but it is actually one of the Hundred Surnames. Your teacher herself may not be so familiar with the Hundred Surnames, perhaps