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Updated January 23, 2020

Family name origins & meanings

  • Chinese (pinyin Zu) : from the character for ‘ancestor’, zu. In ancient China a ‘style name’ was given when a person reached majority: the twentieth birthday for a boy, and the fifteenth birthday for a girl. During the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 bc), the style name of several kings contained the character zu, and the surname was derived from this usage.

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