Cui (surname)

Cui (Chinese: 崔; pinyin: Cuī) is one of the top 100 most common surnames in China, with around 0.28% of the people China having the surname (around 3.4 million in 2002).^[1] It is also one of the commonest surnames in Korea, with around 4.7% of the population having the surname in South Korea (2.4 million in 2013).^[2] In China, the name is commonly found in Shandong and Henan, as well as provinces in the north-east and other areas of China, such as Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hebei, Jiangsu, Shanxi, and Jilin.^[1] It is written as Chui in Hong Kong Cantonese, Choi in Korean, Tsui in Taiwan, Thoi in Vietnamese and Tsoi in Russian.

Origin

One source of the surname came from the Jiang (姜) surname in the state of Qi founded by Jiang Ziya (姜子牙). A grandson of Jiang Ziya named Jizi (季子), an heir apparent, chose to relinquish his claim to the throne in favour of his brother Shuyi (叔乙), and went to live in the Cui estate (崔邑, in present day Shandong). His descendants later adopted Cui as their surname.^[3]

The surname is one of the five surnames, now the most common surnames in Korea, closely associated with the six villages that formed the earliest state of Silla.^[4]

Many non-Han Chinese groups adopted the surname Cui. During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu clans Cuigiya Hala (sinicized as 崔佳氏) and Cuimulu Hala (崔穆鲁氏) simplified their names to Cui.^[1][5] A Mongol clan Cuijuk Hala (崔珠克氏) also adopted this surname during the Qing Dynasty. The surname may also be found amongst the Tujia (土家) people in Hunan, the Yi (彝) people in Yunnan, as well as the Mongols and Hui (回) people.^[6]

List of notable people

Historical

• Cui Yuan (Han Dynasty) (77–142 or 78–143 AD), a minor figure from the Han Dynasty
• Cui Yan (163 - 216), an official from late Eastern Han Dynasty
• Cui Hao (d. 450), a statesman of the 5th century, Qinghe Cui family
• Cui Renshi (c. 580 - 649), a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
• Cui Dunli (596 - 656), a general and diplomat during the Tang dynasty
• Cui Zhiwen (627-683), a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
• Cui Shi (671-713), an official of the Tang Dynasty, grandson of Cui Renshi
• Cui Cha (d. 689), a chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
• Cui Hao (poet) (704–754), a poet
• Cui Yuan (Tang Dynasty) (705-768), an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty
• Cui Riyong (673-722), an official of the Tang Dynasty
• Cui Shenji, a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
• Cui Xuanwei (638-706), a chancellor during the Tang dynasty
• Cui Sheng (7-8th century), the general of Tang Dynasty, younger brother of Cui Xuanwei
• Cui Bai (mid 11th century), a Song dynasty painter
• Cui Zizhong (? - 1644), a painter during the Ming Dynasty

Contemporary

• Cui Guanghao (b. 1979), a Chinese football player
• Cui Jian (b. 1961), a musician
• Cui Peng (b. 1987), a football player
• Victor Cui, ONE Fighting Championship CEO
• Cui Xiaodi (b. 1989), Chinese ski mountaineer
• Cui Xingwu, an officer in the army in the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Cui Yingjie, a migrant worker and convicted murderer
• Cui Yongyuan (b. 1963), an eminent talk show host
• Cui Yuanzong, chancellor during the Tang dynasty
• Cui Zhide (b. 1983), a race walker
• Cui Zhiyuan, a professeur at Tsinghua University
• Cui Zi En, a film director and writer
• Tsui Family, a prominent family in China's Shantung province during late Qing dynasty and Republic of China, and co-founding family of Tsingtao Beer.

See also

• Choi (Korean version of the same surname)

References