Gao / Kao
Stroke order of the Gao surname
PronunciationGāo (Pinyin)
Ko (Pe̍h-ōe-jī)
Gou1 (Jyutping)
Language(s)Chinese
Origin
Language(s)Old Chinese
Meaninghigh, tall
Other names
Variant form(s)Gao, Kao (Mandarin)
Ko, Kou (Cantonese, Hokkien)
Derivative(s)Cao, Ko

Gao (Chinese: 高) is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin that can be literally translated as "high" or "tall". There are approximately 17 million living people with this surname. Some places, such as Taiwan, usually romanise this family name into "Kao". In Hong Kong, it is romanized to "Ko". In Macau, it is romanized to "Kou". In English, it is romanized to "Kauh". In 2019 it was the 19th most common surname in Mainland China.[1] The Korean surname, "Ko" or "Koh", is derived from and written with the same Chinese character (高).

Romanisation and pronunciation

Dialect or Format Transliteration or Pronunciation
Mandarin Gāo (Hanyu pinyin); Kao1 (Wade-Giles)
Cantonese Gou1 (Jyutping)
Minnan Ko (Peh-oe-ji)
Japanese Kō
Vietnamese Cao
Korean Ko (McCune–Reischauer), Go (Revised Romanization)
English Kauh

Origin

According to Lüshi Chunqiu, the earliest figure with the Gao surname was Gao Yuan (高元) who created dwellings in antiquity.[2] Zhuanxu, the grandson of the Yellow Emperor, was also known as Gao Yang (高陽).

Another origin of Gao is the Jiang (姜) surname. According to the Song dynasty encyclopedia Tongzhi, an early ancestor was Gao Xi (高傒) who was granted the surname Gao in honour of his grandfather Prince Gao (公子高).[3] Prince Gao was the son of Duke Wen of the state of Qi whose ancestral name was Jiang (姜).[4]

Many non-Han Chinese used the surname Gao:

Notable people

Historical

Modern

Kao

Kō

Cao

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

References

  1. ^ "新京报 - 好新闻，无止境".
  2. ^ 《呂氏春秋·勿躬篇》 Original text: 高元作室。
  3. ^ Tongzhi: 《通志·氏族略》 记载，春秋时，齐国公子高的孙子，开始以"高"为氏，称高。
  4. ^ Fu Chinjiang (2007). Origins of Chinese Names. Asiapac Books. p. 58. ISBN 978-9812294623.
  5. ^ National Institute of Korean History. 三國史記 卷第二十八 百濟本紀 第六. National Institute of Korean HistoryDatabase.
  6. ^ National Institute of Korean History. 三國史記 卷第十八 髙句麗本紀 第六. National Institute of Korean HistoryDatabase.
  7. ^ 한국인문고전연구소 원문과 함께 읽는 삼국사기 의자왕 義慈王. 한국인문고전연구소.
  8. ^ 한국인문고전연구소 원문과 함께 읽는 삼국사기 광개토왕 廣開土王. 한국인문고전연구소.
  9. ^ Jin Guanglin [in Japanese] (2014). "A Comparison of the Korean and Japanese Approaches to Foreign Family Names" (PDF). Journal of Cultural Interaction in East Asia. 5: 30 – via Society for Cultural Interaction in East Asia.
  10. ^ Breuker, Remco. (2014). Establishing a Pluralist Society in Medieval Korea, 918-1170: History, Ideology, and Identity in the Koryŏ Dynasty. Brill. ISBN 9789004190122. OCLC 1049569237.

External links

100 most common family names in Mainland China (2020)
More
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