Chinese surname · rank 273
巴
巴 is read as bā.
bā
Simplified and traditional 巴
greatly desire, anxiously hope
Earth
Time: Zhou Ba state layer, Qin conquest and Ba Commandery layer, Tang geography place-name layer, Eastern Han Ba Su figure layer, Yuan-Ming-Qing and later ethnic-adoption layer, and modern Xinjiang-Inner Mongolia-Liaoning distribution layer; Eastern Han textual layer, 25-220 CE
Place: Ba state territory from the upper Han River in southern Shaanxi to the northern Daba Mountains and east toward Xiangyang; Ba Commandery; Badong, Dongba, Baqu, Bachuan, Daba Mountains, Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Henan, Shandong, Jilin, Qinghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Beijing, Yunnan, Hebei, Tibet, Shanghai, Anhui, Huizhou/Shexian, and Hubei contexts
Origin note
Ba is read b as a surname. The central source-backed layer is the old Ba state: sources describe Ba as a Zhou-period polity whose territory reached the upper Han River in southern Shaanxi, the northern edge of the Daba Mountains, and east toward Xiangyang. After Qin destroyed Ba and established Ba Commandery, people connected with the former state could use Ba as a surname. A second southern layer is geographic: Tang geography records place names such as Badong, Dongba, Baqu, and Bachuan, with Baqu and Bachuan connected to Ba waters and the Daba Mountains around the Shaanxi-Sichuan-Hubei border, so local people may have taken Ba from water or mountain names. A northern layer is later and different: Yuan, Ming, Qing, and later records connect some Ba surnames with Mongol, Manchu, Yugur, Xibe, Uyghur, Hui, and other groups adopting or using Ba under Chinese surname practice. The page keeps Ba state, Ba mountain/water, and northern ethnic-adoption layers separate.
Historical figures
Historical figures to enrich
This surname page is ready for a fame-ranked figure list. Later passes can add generals, poets, rulers, artists, scholars and modern public figures with source links.