Family name origins & meanings
- Chinese :
from a byname of a certain Prince Yan, who
lived during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc) in
the state of Zheng, in modern-day Henan province. He had the byname
Ziyou, and the second character of this name was adopted as a
surname by his descendants. - Chinese :
altered
form of the surname Shen. During the Five Dynasties period
(907–960) the founder of the state of Min, in present-day Fujian
province, was called Wang Shen Zhi. The character in his name for
Shen, , was pronounced in the same way as the character for the surname Shen,
(see Shen 1). This spelled danger for those named Shen, as the culture of the time regarded imitation not as as flattery, but as criminal arrogance. A solution to the problem was developed by dropping from
,pronounced You.
- Korean : variant of Yu.