Chinese surname · rank 223
卜
卜 is read as bǔ.
bǔ
Simplified 卜 · Traditional 蔔
divination; to predict; to choose
Earth
Time: Ancient divination-craft tradition and Zhou office-name layer; later Sixteen Kingdoms and Northern Wei ethnic-adoption layers; Ancient surname tradition, before 221 BCE; exact calendar year not pinned by the attached sources
Place: Zhou ritual-official context; early historical examples in Jin, Qin, Lu, Henan commandery, Jiangdong, and Xinxing in today's Shanxi
Origin note
卜 is treated as a layered surname whose strongest shared explanation is occupational: descendants of people who served as divination officials or specialists used the office or craft name as a surname. Surname references connect this to Zhou offices such as 卜正, 太卜, and 卜人, and cite early figures such as 晋卜偃, 秦卜徒父, and 鲁卜楚丘 as examples of named divination officials. Other layers are kept separate: some 卜 lines are linked with the Xiongnu Xubu compound surname and later sinicized groups, while additional accounts mention Manchu or regional minority adoption. The page therefore presents 卜 as an office/occupation-based surname with later ethnic-adoption branches, not as one single descent line.
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.