Yi (Chinese surname)

Yi

Yi surname in regular script
Pronunciation(Pinyin)
E̍k, Ī (Pe̍h-ōe-jī)
Language(s) Chinese
Origin
Language(s) Old Chinese
Other names
Variant(s)

Yi, Yih (Mandarin)
Yick (Cantonese)
Ek, Yee (Hokkien)

(Vietnamese)

(Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is a Chinese surname, in Cantonese it is transliterated as Yick, the Chinese commercial code (CCC) of which is 2496. It is also rarely spelled as Yih or Ie, depending on where it is originated.

Place of origin

According to the book of Hundred Family Surnames (百家姓), Yi family originated from Jiang (姜) family who moved to Yi county (present day Chang county in Hebei province). The other place of origin is Yi county (present day Yi county in Hebei province). During the periode of Qin dynasty, Yi family were mainly situated at Shandong and Henan. At the end of Eastern Han dynasty until the beginning of Southern and Northern Dynasties period, they started to scatter across the central plains, and moving toward present day Hunan province.

Nowadays, Yi surname ranks 106th among other family surnames in mainland China with members up to more than 1.7 million, making 0.14% of total population.

Notable people

Fictional people