Liu


劉 / 刘 is a Chinese surname. Liu as transcribed in English can represent several different surnames written in different Chinese characters.
/ , pinyin: Liú in Mandarin Chinese, Lau4 in Cantonese. The family name of Han dynasty emperors.
In Cantonese transliteration, 劉 is Lau, Lao is also a transliteration of 劉 in Southern Min and Taiwanese Hokkien.
In Shanghainese, 劉 is romanised as Lieu and rarely Lieh.
In Teochew, 劉 is usually romanised as Lau or Lao.
In Hakka, 劉 is most commonly transliterated as Liew.
In Gan, 劉 is most commonly transliterated as Liew or Lieu.
In Hokkien, 劉 is most commonly pronounced as Lau.
Indonesians of Chinese descent romanise the surname according to Dutch pronunciation as Lauw.
In Vietnamese, the name can either take the form Liễu, or Lưu, or Lục. A few families of Vietnamese-Chinese descent use the family name Lao.

Distribution

In 2019, 劉 was again the fourth most common surname in Mainland China. Additionally, it was the most common surname in Jiangxi province. In 2013 it was found to be the 5th most common name, shared by 67,700,000 people or 5.100% of the population, with the province with the most people being Shandong.

Origin

Commonly transcribed Liu or Lau.

Historical figures