晁 🔊

Origin note

Chao is presented as a surname whose written form is tied to older , /, and variants. One main tradition derives it from the Ji-surname Zhou royal house: Wangzi Chao, son of King Jing of Zhou, lost the succession struggle and fled to Chu; later descendants are said to have used Chao from his personal name, with used as a related written form. Another tradition derives it from the Spring and Autumn Wei official Shi Chao, whose descendants used Chao as an ancestor-name surname. A separate early textual clue appears in Shiji Suoyin on Chao Cuo, which places a Chao clan in Nanyang and connects it with Xi E Chao. Because these materials point to ancestor-name and regional-attestation layers rather than one complete lineage, this page records them cautiously and keeps the ordinary dawn meaning separate from the surname origin.

Historical figures

Sources checked

• 23mofang surname library: Chao / - Wangzi Chao, Shi Chao, and ethnic changed-surname origin notes
• Hao86 Baijiaxing: Chao / - Wangzi Chao, Shi Chao, and // character-variant explanation
• Wikipedia: Chao surname / - Shiji Suoyin Nanyang and Xi E Chao clan attestation
• Zupulu: Chao clan origin / - Wangzi Chao and Shi Chao origin traditions and commandery notes
• Wikisource: Baijiaxing - checked Baijiaxing line
• Han Dian: Chao / - basic character meaning only