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You surname a creation of the name change game
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COMPARED to other Chinese family names, You is a young one dating back just over 1,100 years. According to historical records, the surname didn’t exist before the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (AD 907-979) period, Wang Shenzhi founded the Min Kingdom, which existed between 909 and 945. Because of a naming taboo in ancient China, the people of the Min Kingdom had to avoid the use of the king’s name and its homophones in their own names. Thus, families surnamed Shen had to change their name to another with a similar character but a different sound. They choose You.
Apart from the family of Shen, it can be traced to the surname Qiu. The characters You and Qiu were homophones in ancient Chinese, and had the same meaning of “grudge” or “resentment.”
Another possible origin of the name You is rooted in the ethnic minorities in China. The people of other ethnic groups usually have longer and more complicated names than the Han people. In order to adapt to Han culture, ethnic minorities frequently chose to simplify their names into shorter, more Han-sounding names. And You is one of them.
For instance, a Man family with a long surname chose to pick the character You out of their name to be their Han name. The Hui people named “Yousufu (yusuf),” after the Islamic scripture, often go with the first character You in their names. You is also an inherited family name of the Man people residing in Liaoyang (today’s Liaoning), as well as some Gaoshan, Miao, Qiang and other ethnic minorities.
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