Han Chinese surname 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, due to political problems during the reign of
Emperor Wu of Han. The Xiao people therefore also trace their origin to Lanling, and sometimes they are called Lanling Xiao (“兰陵萧”). Another mass movement of Xiao people came during the
Disaster of Yongjia at the end of the
Western Jin dynasty, when Xiao Zheng (萧整) moved to
Danyang, Jiangsu. It was also called South Lanling (南兰陵). The descendants of Danyang Xiao (丹阳萧氏) later founded two dynasties:
Xiao Daocheng was the founding emperor of the
Southern Qi dynasty, and
Xiao Yan founded the
Liang dynasty. During the
Tang dynasty, there were nine Xiao family members appointed as
chancellors (or prime ministers), the continuous eight chancellors (八叶传芳, "八叶世家"). The first was
Xiao Yu (萧瑀), followed by the other eight Xiao families: :his great grand nephew Xiao Song (萧嵩) :Xiao Song's eldest son Xiao Hua (萧华) :Xiao Hua's nephew Xiao Fu (萧復) :Xiao Hua's grandson Xiao Fu (萧俯, written with a different character for Fu) :Xiao Fu's grandson Xiao Zhen (萧真) :Xiao Hua's grandson Xiao Fang (萧仿) :Xiao Fang's son Xiao Gou (萧遘). There were altogether nine chancellors from the Xiao family during the Tang dynasty. The Jiang family (江氏) from Jiangwan (江湾),
Wuyuan,
Jiangxi was originally surnamed Xiao and they call themselves the Xiao–Jiang family (萧江氏). The Xiao-Jiang family was from Danyang (丹阳 (南兰陵) 东城里萧氏). When the
Later Liang dynasty overthrew the Tang dynasty in 907, the Tang general Xiao Zhen (萧桢) led a revolt against the Later Liang dynasty but failed. Xiao Zhen was the second son of the Tang chancellor Xiao Gou. The Xiao family left Danyang and escaped to the south. They changed their surname to Jiang; Xiao Zhen (萧桢) became Jiang Zhen (江桢) and he was the progenitor of the Xiao–Jiang family. They later moved to Yunwan (云湾, which changed the name to Jiangwan 江湾). This means that the Jiang family from this area is actually also part of the Xiao family, they are known as the Xiao-Jiang family. During the
Southern Song dynasty, Xiao Guoliang (萧国梁) was the first member of the Xiao family in Zhangzhou,
Fujian province. His grandson, Xiao Xun (萧洵) became the county magistrate of
Chaoyang in
Guangdong province. He became the founder of the Xiao family of Chaoyang. During this period, some members of the Xiao family moved across the sea to
Taiwan.
Khitan, Uighur and Manchu surname During the
Liao dynasty, the emperor
Abaoji conferred the surname "Xiao" on two Khitan clans, the Bali and the Yishi, reportedly out of admiration for
Xiao He. Abaoji's son
Yaogu further conferred the surname "Xiao" on the Uighur Shulü clan. Throughout the Liao dynasty, many empresses were surnamed "Xiao" (see
list). After the demise of the Manchu
Qing dynasty, many Manchus adopted Han Chinese-style surnames. Some members of the Manchu
Šumuru clan, which claims descent from the Uighur Shulü clan, adopted "Xiao" as their surname.
Later history During the
Yuan dynasty, members of the Xiao family moved from
Jiangxi to
Meizhou and
Dabu in Guangdong province. They are mainly the
Hakka Xiao family. In the early
Ming dynasty, the population in North and Central China was declining due to wars. In order to increase the population and start the economic recovery of these war-torn areas, the Ming government organized many large-scale forced mass migration to the area. People were moved from
Shanxi province, which had been less affected by the wars, to the war-torn, less populated area of North and Central China. The people were ordered to move to a location near "the tree" (大槐树), and prepare themselves for the family migration. The Shanxi Xiao family were part of this group of "immigrants under the tree" (在大槐树下集中移民), which were moved to the modern provinces of
Henan,
Shandong,
Hebei,
Beijing,
Tianjin,
Shaanxi,
Gansu,
Ningxia,
Anhui,
Jiangsu,
Hubei,
Hunan,
Guangxi,
Liaoning,
Jilin,
Heilongjiang,
Shanxi and other places. Today, the Xiao family still has memorial tablets dedicated to their ancestors among the "immigrants under the tree" at the fourth cabinet of the memorial hall at the "large tree roots memorial garden" (大槐树寻根祭祖园祭祖堂四号供橱). During the Ming dynasty, many members of the Xiao family also moved to
Yunnan province. They became the first members of the Yunnan Xiao family (云南萧氏). During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were also mass migrations of Xiao kinspeople from
Jiangxi to
Sichuan, especially at the beginning of these dynasties, when two major revolutions took place. Historians have called this process of mass migration "Jiangxi filled
Huguang, Huguang filled Sichuan" (江西填湖广，湖广填四川). "Huguang" refers to the provinces of
Hunan and
Guangdong. According to historical materials, from the beginning of the reign of the
Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty, many members of the Xiao family moved to Sichuan. During the
Chinese Civil War between the
Communists and the
Nationalists, Xiao people, especially those from Fujian, moved to Taiwan with the Nationalists. In Taiwan, they lived primarily in the cities and counties of
Changhua,
Chiayi,
Taipei,
Kaohsiung and
Taoyuan. Today, Xiao is the 30th-most common surname in Taiwan. The World Congress of was held in Chaoyang, Guangdong province, China in 2010.
Overseas At the end of the Qing dynasty, Chinese started to move to other countries to work there. The Xiao also moved to other countries such as
Vietnam,
Thailand,
Singapore,
Malaysia and
Indonesia. Others migrated from
Fujian to
Taiwan. In Malaysia and Singapore, direct transliterations from the various Chinese dialects were used to write Chinese surnames. The
Hokkien or
Teochew Chinese romanized "Xiao" as "Seow". Teochew "Seow" are mainly Xiao from
Chaoyang in Guangdong province. The
Hakka Xiao, especially Huizhou Hakka of Titi (知知港) (in Negeri Sembilan state of Malaysia), a village with a high concentration of Hakka people surnamed Xiao, romanized "Xiao" as "Siow" or "Seow". These days, some members of younger generations use
Hanyu Pinyin and write their surname as "Xiao". In the
United States, the surname is also romanized as
Shaw. The connection between "Shaw" and "萧" is influenced by phonetic resemblance, and is exemplified in the
transliteration of notable figures such as Irish playwright
George Bernard Shaw, rendered in Chinese as , and English actor
Robert Shaw, often written . This reflects established conventions for translation between foreign and Chinese names, as outlined in resources like the
English Name Translation Manual (英语姓名译名手册), ensuring that translated names resonate with native speakers and maintain phonetic consistency with the original pronunciation. == Simplified Chinese forms ==