Chinese surname · rank 247
池
池 is read as chí.
chí
Simplified and traditional 池
pool, pond; moat; cistern
Water
Time: Qin Gongzi Chi tradition, 221-206 BCE; later Song, Ming, and Qing record layers are separate
Place: Mianchi and Chizhou place-name contexts; Xiping commandery; Chenliu; Fujian Tong'an; Yunnan Chuxiong; Korean, Manchu, and other later adoption contexts
Origin note
池 is treated as a multi-layer surname. One ancestor-name line identifies Gongzi Chi as the honored ancestor used by many modern Chi families, with descendants taking the personal name Chi as a surname. A second line is residence based: because chi means a pond or city moat, people living beside such a place could have used the local feature as a surname; Mingmen Xiupu and Zupulu connect this with the old explanation that surnames could come from places such as city walls, outer walls, gardens, and pools. A third line is place-name based, with Mianchi and Chizhou named as possible surname contexts. Later sources also record Korean, Manchu, Mongol, and other adoption or change-surname branches. These are presented as parallel traditions, not as a single universal origin.
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