Gu Surname

Surname Overview

Overview

The Gu surname is relatively common in China. By current population ranking, it is the 81st largest Chinese surname, accounting for about 0.25% of the Han population, with an estimated population of around three million.

Reference: 顾氏家谱网 提供12个省区市的136部顾氏家谱、顾氏族谱

Origins

Two Origins

The Gu surname has two principal origins: the Ji and Si lineages. The Ji branch descended from the state of Gu in the Xia period and took the state name as its surname; the Si branch descended from King Goujian of Yue, whose collateral descendants took the first character of the title Guyu Hou as their surname.

Reference: 顾姓起源分布与家谱家族

Historical Records

Literary Attestation

In the Song-dynasty Hundred Family Surnames, Gu is ranked 93rd.

Reference: 顾氏家谱网 提供12个省区市的136部顾氏家谱、顾氏族谱

Migration and Distribution

Before the Qin period, the Gu surname was mainly active in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. During the Tang and Song periods it had spread to Anhui, Hubei, Henan, and Fujian; by the Ming period, its migration had expanded nationwide. For more than three thousand years, Jiangsu and Zhejiang remained its center of growth and activity.

Reference: 顾姓起源分布与家谱家族

Research Notes

Genealogical Boundary

The origins of migration are unclear for some branches. For example, the genealogy of the Batuan Gu branch records that its founding migrant, Gu Xiangzhi, first lived in Batuan, Nanhui, but gives no account of his background.

Reference: 顾氏家谱网 提供12个省区市的136部顾氏家谱、顾氏族谱