Kuo (郭)
A Taiwanese surname.
郭 Kuo
- Zhuyin
- ㄍㄨㄛ
- Pinyin
- guō
- Wade-Giles
- Kuo
- Further spellings of 郭
- Guo
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Kueh MOE's surname list also gives Keh. Kueh is the colloquial (白讀) reading, while kok is the character's literary (文讀) reading.
- Hakka (Sixian)
- gog²
- Rank in Taiwan
- 15th most common surname, roughly 1.5% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
'Outer city wall'; it also denotes the outer part of something.
Where the surname comes from
Tradition links it to the states of Guo (虢), held by younger brothers of King Wen of Zhou; in early writing 郭 and 虢 were interchangeable. A second account derives it from families who lived by the outer city wall. Hall name (堂號): 太原堂.
Saying it 我姓郭 — wǒ xìng guō (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄍㄨㄛ), "my family name is 郭"
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).