Xiao (surname)

Xiao (/ʃ//aʊ/; ) is a Chinese language surname. In the Wade Giles system of romanization, it is rendered as Hsiao, which is commonly used in Taiwan. It is also romanized as Siauw, Shiao, Siaw, Siew, Siow, Seow, Siu, Shiu or Sui, as well as "Shaw" in less common situations, inspired by the transliteration of the surname of notable figures such as Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw and English actor Robert Shaw. It is the 99th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem. After the demise of the Qing dynasty, some of the descendants of Manchu clan Šumuru sinicized their clan name to the Chinese surnames Shu (舒), Xu (徐) or Xiao (蕭). A 1977 study found that it was the 20th most common Chinese surname in the world. It is said to be the 30th most common in China. In 2019 it was the 33rd most common surname in Mainland China.

The Xiao surname originated from Xiao County in Anhui province, China. In the state of Song during the Spring and Autumn period of ancient China, the nobleman Daxin (蕭叔大心) was enfeoffed at Xiao, which became an attached state of Song. The people of Xiao later adopted the name of their state as their surname. Centuries later, Xiao He was the first prime minister of the Han dynasty. Later on, his descendant Xiao Biao (萧彪) moved to Lanling (兰陵), now Yicheng in Shandong province, However, many people in mainland China still have 肖 as their surname in their legal documents for historical reasons (see below). In mainland China, people may regard them as two separate surnames. However, in circumstances where traditional Chinese is used, e. g. in cross strait relations, this may lead to confusion. People have long been writing the surname 肖 for simplicity, but the form was considered informal and not used in formal texts. However, the second round Chinese simplification established 肖 as the standard form. When the second round simplification was rescinded in 1984, some people restored their surname in legal documents to the traditional writing form, but some others did not. Most other surnames do not share these problems. For example, Liao (廖) was simplified to a character with 广 and 了 combined in the second round simplification. All Liao people reverted to using 廖 after the rescission, because the modification is no longer considered a valid character and cannot be typed into the computer. However, 肖, which has other meanings, is still valid so some people have continued to use this form including in legal documents.