Yao (姚)
A Taiwanese surname.
姚 Yao
- Zhuyin
- ㄧㄠˊ
- Pinyin
- yáo
- Wade-Giles
- Yao
- Further spellings of 姚
- Yau
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Iâu Iâu is the literary (文讀) reading, while iô is the character's colloquial (白讀) reading.
- Hakka (Sixian)
- ieu¹¹
- Rank in Taiwan
- 73rd most common surname, roughly 0.17% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
In classical texts it means 'beautiful' and 'distant'.
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to the sage-king Shun, said to have lived at Yaoxu (姚墟) and to have taken Yao as his surname; MOE's dictionary cites this account from the Shuowen. Hall name (堂號): 吳興堂.
Saying it 我姓姚 — wǒ xìng yáo (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄧㄠˊ), "my family name is 姚"
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).