Xiao is a rare surname whose origin is now difficult to determine. It was originally written “効,” and many people changed it to “效” following Chinese character simplification in the latter half of the 20th century.
The epitaph titled “Epitaph and Preface for Lady Xiao, Lady of Chunsu Township, Luoyang County, of the Tang” records Xiao Ji, while Ouyang Xun’s Huangfu Dan Stele records Xiao Changqiu.
In Anding District, Gansu, the Xiao surname occurs in Ningyuan Town, Lijiabao Town, and Zhangwan Township. Zhangwan Township has a village named Xiaojiachuan, while scattered households are also found in Lumacha and near Anding’s southeastern border with Huining County.
The Xiao surname is found in Taiyuan, Linfen, and Yuncheng in Shanxi, as well as Wuyang in Henan, Dingxi in Gansu, Taipei in Taiwan, and Beijing.
Xiao Tanzhai, a native of Wuyang, Henan, was a revolutionary in the late Qing period.
In Henan, bearers of the Xiao surname are concentrated in Xiaoji and Weizhuang in Wuyang and in Yuzhou, with Xiaoji retaining a genealogy. The Wuyang genealogy records that the local Xiao clan moved there in the 14th year of the Jiajing reign (1535) and traces its ancestors to Sanyuan, Shaanxi.
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