Chu (朱)
A Taiwanese surname.
朱 Chu
- Zhuyin
- ㄓㄨ
- Pinyin
- zhū
- Wade-Giles
- Chu
- Further spellings of 朱
- Ju, Jhu, Zhu
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Tsu
- Hakka (Sixian)
- zu²⁴
- Rank in Taiwan
- 34th most common surname, roughly 0.66% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
'Vermilion', a bright red.
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to Cao Xie (曹挾), enfeoffed at Zhu (邾) in present-day Shandong early in the Zhou; after Chu destroyed Zhu, descendants dropped the 阝 radical and wrote 朱. Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming dynasty, bore the name.
Saying it 我姓朱 — wǒ xìng zhū (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄓㄨ), "my family name is 朱"
Sources: rank and share, 內政部 全國姓名統計分析 (Ministry of the Interior, National Name Statistics), data as of 2023-06-30. Taiwanese Hokkien readings, 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (MOE Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi), 百家姓 appendix. Hakka, 教育部臺灣客語辭典 (MOE Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka), 百家姓表, Sixian (四縣腔).