Hou (侯)
A Taiwanese surname.
侯 Hou
- Zhuyin
- ㄏㄡˊ
- Pinyin
- hóu
- Wade-Giles
- Hou
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Hâu Hâu is the colloquial (白讀) reading, while hôo is the character's literary (文讀) reading.
- Hakka (Sixian)
- heu¹¹
- Rank in Taiwan
- 57th most common surname, roughly 0.23% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
'Marquis', the second of the five ancient ranks of nobility; it also means an archery target.
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to Marquis Min of Jin (晉侯緡): once the Quwo branch overthrew his line, his descendants fled abroad and took Hou as their surname. Hall name (堂號): 上谷堂.
Saying it 我姓侯 — wǒ xìng hóu (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄏㄡˊ), "my family name is 侯"
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).