Start with a real surname
Pick from an attested Chinese surname before inventing a sound that only looks Chinese.
Northern Song surname canon
Choose a Chinese surname for your pen name
Bai Jia Xing is a cultural surname primer, not a modern popularity chart. Use it as a grounded starting point for choosing a real Chinese family name for fiction, study, art, or a respectful personal pen name.
Classical order
The sequence follows the received Hundred Family Surnames primer, so it preserves cultural memory rather than modern rank.
Variant layer
Simplified, traditional and related written forms are associated, while separate fields keep later research traceable.
Pronunciation first
Each record includes Mandarin pinyin and a speaking button so English users can test the sound before choosing.
How 百家姓 is used here
Reliability: High cultural value, low modern-population-ranking value. It preserves surname literacy and cultural memory, but it is not a modern demographic ranking.
Historical value: The opening order 赵钱孙李 is generally read as reflecting Song political culture: Zhao for the Song imperial house, Qian for the Wuyue/Qian ruling house, and then other prominent surnames.
Site role: Use as a historical/cultural reference layer beside modern population ranking and individual surname-origin evidence.
How to use this list
The safest pen-name surname is real, pronounceable, and not making a false ancestry claim. Treat these records as cultural ingredients, then pair one with a given name that fits your voice.
Check the sound in English
Say the pinyin aloud and avoid combinations that feel awkward beside your given-name choice.
Match the persona
A poetic, scholarly, modern, or martial pen name needs a surname that supports that register.
First 50 surname records
These are the first fifty entries in the received Bai Jia Xing order. More origin notes, famous bearers, images and source confidence will attach to the same records over time.
A strong classical opening surname with an imperial echo.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
Short, common, and easy for English speakers to read.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
Compact sound with a long cultural footprint.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
Direct and memorable, but culturally weighty because it means king.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
Natural, widely recognized, and flexible for pen names.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
Useful for English names that already lean toward Lu or Loo sounds.
A real surname record ready for pen-name research.
Classical list, modern caution
Bai Jia Xing gives the site a stable classical base. It does not say which surnames are most common today, and it does not prove a user's family history. For pen names, that is useful: the list supplies authentic surname material without pretending to be genealogy.