Most Chinese share just 100 family names

[snopes]

Almost 85 percent of Chinese people share just 100 surnames, with Wang, which literally means "king", being the most popular.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyE...K6657620070424

[Jonny T]

Hm....Wang...King...Wang...King...

heh heh heh...

[Tarquin Farquart]

According to my Bumper Book of Slightly Racist Jokes for Kids, there is often a problem of Wing-ing the Wong number when in China.

Nothing about Wang though. Could it be that the joke wasn't accurate?

[Troberg]

According to my Bumper Book of Slightly Racist Jokes for Kids, there is often a problem of Wing-ing the Wong number when in China.

Reminds me about a comment from the main character Lo Wang in the old game Shadow Warrior when he meets a girl in the shower:

"You want to wash wang, or you want to wash Wang wash wang?"

[moonfall]

Consequently, the Chinese rapper Li'l Wang cannot figure out why people keep snickering at him. (Is this going to turn into a thread full of bad puns?)

Seriously, I would imagine if you took the 100 most common names in America, you'd get a large portion of the population.

[Morning]

Most common surnames in the US.

Just fyi.


Morning
Not in the top 2000.

Originally Posted by moonfall

Seriously, I would imagine if you took the 100 most common names in America, you'd get a large portion of the population.

Originally Posted by Morning

Most common surnames in the US.

Just fyi.

If I did my numbers right, the top 100 in the US only account for 19% (18.827) of the US population.

[Stan The Man]

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

If I did my numbers right, the top 100 in the US only account for 19% (18.827) of the US population.

The top 1000 only account for 43.384%.

[Joostik]

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

If I did my numbers right, the top 100 in the US only account for 19% (18.827) of the US population.

Compare that to Korea, where about 20% share the surname Kim.

[moonfall]

Is Kim also a Chinese surname? I know someone by that name and don't know which she is (I never asked).

[songs78]

Originally Posted by moonfall

Is Kim also a Chinese surname? I know someone by that name and don't know which she is (I never asked).

Kim is usually a Korean surname. The person you know is probably Korean.

The Chinese version of the name Kim is spelled
Jin.

Here is a chart showing Chinese surnames and their Korean equivalents.

[Lady Neeva]

Heh, I went from a surname that isn't even ON the site to the number one most common surname in the US when I got married lol.

[Morning]

The surname Kim is ranked 233 in the US.

There are just a lot of folks in that family all over!

Morning

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Lady Neeva

Heh, I went from a surname that isn't even ON the site to the number one most common surname in the US when I got married lol.

I went from #200 something to #1 when I married. Which is one reason I changed my name back when I divorced.

[Floater]

According to some article I read I have no idea how long time ago there are only around 40 family names in China and all Wang, Wong, Chen, Cheng, Chang, Hong, whatever are really just variations of the same name.

[ARubberChickenWithAPulley]

Originally Posted by Joostik

Compare that to Korea, where about 20% share the surname Kim.

The top three surnames, Kim, Lee, and Park, make up about 45% of the population.

About once a week, someone will call me and say, "Hi this is Mr. Kim." I wait for the "from..." but it doesn't arrive, causing me to want to hurl something through a window.

Seriously.

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

If I did my numbers right, the top 100 in the US only account for 19% (18.827) of the US population.

Probably because we're a nation of immigrants. U. S. names are "rooted" all over the world, but China (despite its massive population) is rather homogeneous even to this day.

One should add that the Chinese practice of having monosyllabic surnames only, will tend to limit the options. (There is probably something in this huge website which would tell me whether this itself is true, or a UL of some kind, but I've heard this attributed to Chinese names more than once.)

I am guessing that if one were to evaluate a far-more-homogeneous society than the United States, percentages would be higher than in the US. I'd think, for example, that the "top 100" names in Ireland, Guatemala, (either) Korea, etc. would cover far more than 19% of the population.

However, some places/cultures seem to habitually have much longer names, such as India, Finland, Armenia, Greece, Russia, etc. That factor will increase the "variety" of names in some parts of the world as well.

[kanazawa]

Originally Posted by Joostik

Compare that to Korea, where about 20% share the surname Kim.

Compare that to Vietnam, apparently 40% have the surname Nguyen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen

And I'm guessing that the second most popular name would be Le, at maybe 10-20%.

So 2 names cover about half the population

[Jay Temple]

Originally Posted by snopes

Almost 85 percent of Chinese people share just 100 surnames, with Wang, which literally means "king", being the most popular.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyE...K6657620070424

I recall reading some years ago that they considered this a problem. All the more reason to let that couple name their child @.

[FrogFeathers]

Originally Posted by Lady Neeva

Heh, I went from a surname that isn't even ON the site to the number one most common surname in the US when I got married lol.

Same here- except my maiden name is on the list, just spelled wrong. (with a "y" at the end instead of an "i")

Originally Posted by Lainie

I went from #200 something to #1 when I married. Which is one reason I changed my name back when I divorced.

I wish I would have hyphenated.

Or that we would have combined the two names to create a new one.