Ma (馬)
A Taiwanese surname.
馬 Ma
- Zhuyin
- ㄇㄚˇ
- Pinyin
- mǎ
- Wade-Giles
- Ma
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Má Má is the literary (文讀) reading, while bé is the character's colloquial (白讀) reading.
- Hakka (Sixian)
- ma²⁴
- Rank in Taiwan
- 65th most common surname, roughly 0.18% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
The word for 'horse'.
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to Zhao She (趙奢), a general of the state of Zhao who was granted the title Lord Mafu (馬服君); his descendants took Ma as their surname. Hall name (堂號): 扶風堂.
Saying it 我姓馬 — wǒ xìng mǎ (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄇㄚˇ), "my family name is 馬"
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).