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Updated January 23, 2020

Family name origins & meanings

  • Norwegian : variant of Bo.
  • Chinese : this character means ‘to divine’ or ‘to predict’. In ancient China there existed government officials for fortune-telling. In honor of their forebears, the descendants of several such officials adopted Bu as their surname.
  • Chinese : from the town of Bu in the state of Jin (in present-day Shaanxi province) during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc). Descendants of a man who was enfeoffed with this area subsequently adopted the place name as their surname. This character also means ‘a (walking) step’.

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