Hsiao (蕭)
A Taiwanese surname.
蕭 Hsiao
- Zhuyin
- ㄒㄧㄠ
- Pinyin
- xiāo
- Wade-Giles
- Hsiao
- Further spellings of 蕭
- Shiau, Siao, Xiao
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Siau Siau is the literary (文讀) reading, while sio is the character's colloquial (白讀) reading.
- Hakka (Sixian)
- seu²⁴
- Rank in Taiwan
- 28th most common surname, roughly 0.83% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
A kind of mugwort; as an adjective it means 'desolate, bleak'.
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to Xiaoshu Daxin (蕭叔大心) of the ruling house of Song, enfeoffed at Xiao (蕭) in present-day Anhui; descendants took the name of the fief. Xiao families founded the Southern Qi and Liang dynasties. Hall name (堂號): 蘭陵堂.
Saying it 我姓蕭 — wǒ xìng xiāo (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄒㄧㄠ), "my family name is 蕭"
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).