Bai (surname)

Bái
Family name
Meaning	"white" (color)
Region of origin	China

Bái is the pinyin romanisation of the common Chinese surname 白, meaning the colour white. With its variants, Bai was ranked 79th within the list of common Chinese surnames in 2006, down from 70th in 1990.

Another surname, 柏, is written with a character normally pronounced as "Bǎi ", but as a surname is properly pronounced "Bó", according to the ancient reading of the character.

Origin

• King Ping of Chu's descendants used the surname Bai (白) after the Bai Country (白邑) in the territory of Chu (state).
• a surname used by the Mongol/Donghu people.
• a surname used by Manchu clan of Bayara,a branch of Irgen Gioro or Bayara Gioro,which is derived from the clan of Bayara (1582–1624) who is the fifth son of Taksi.
• in Yunnan, the Bai people used the surname Bai after their tribe name during the Tang Dynasty

Alternate spellings

• Mandarin: Bái
• Cantonese (Hong Kong and Macao): Baak6, Pak
• Min Nan (Hokkien (Fujian)/Teochew): Pe̍h, Pe̍k, Peh
• Vietnamese: Bạch
• Korean: Paik, Baik, Baek (백) based on the same Chinese letter 白
• Japanese: Bekku, Haku, Hyaku, Byaku

Notable people

• Bai An (1991-), Taiwanese singer, Manchus
• Bai Chongxi (1893–1966), Chinese Muslim general of the Republic of China
• Bai Chong'en, Chinese economist
• Bai Guang (stagename) (1921–1999), movie star and singer
• Pai Hsiao-yen (1980–1997), Taiwanese teenage idol and victim of a fatal kidnapping
• Pai Hsien-yung (1937-), Chinese Muslim writer
• Bai Jie (1972-), Chinese female footballer
• Bai Jing (1983-2012), Chinese actress
• Bai Juyi (772-846), Tang Dynasty poet
• Pai Kun-Hong (1970-), Taiwanese baseball player
• Bai Ling (1966-), Chinese-born American actress
• Bai Qi (died 257 BC), Qin general of the Warring States Period
• Bai Renfu (1226–1306), Yuan Dynasty playwright
• Bai Shouyi (1909–2000), Chinese Muslim historian
• Pai Tzu-li, Chinese Muslim General of the Republic of China
• Lou Pai (1946-), Chinese-American businessman and former Enron executive
• Bai Wenqi (born 1955), lieutenant general of the PLA Air Force
• Bai Chunli (born 1953), Chinese physical chemist and nanoscientist, President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Peter Pek, chief executive of the World Branding Forum

Korean

• Helen Pai, American television writer, director, and producer

See also

• Pai (surname), India surname
• Alfredo Bai (1913–1980), Italian sculptor
• Marcus Bai (1972-), Papua New Guinean rugby league footballer
• Matt Bai (1968-), American political columnist