Chinese surname · rank 224
桂
桂 is read as guì.
guì
Simplified and traditional 桂
cassia or cinnamon
Earth
Time: Qin-period Ji-line tradition and Han-place-name layer, with later medieval and Qing ethnic-adoption layers; Qin-period tradition, 221-206 BCE
Place: Guilin commandery, Guiyang in today's Hunan, Qin/Lu and Youzhou in the Ji-line tradition, plus later southern China surname clusters
Origin note
桂 is best handled as a layered surname. A place-name layer connects the surname with ancient place names such as Guilin commandery and Guiyang, which makes 桂 an example of a surname possibly formed from geographic names. A separate Ji-line tradition says Qin-period scholar Ji Zhen of the Lu ruling clan was killed during the Qin persecutions, and his brother Ji Sui had four sons take new surnames related to the sound of his name, with the eldest remembered as Gui Yi. Later layers include Hui, Manchu Guichet, and Korean adoption accounts. The sources do not require these layers to be collapsed into one genealogy, so the page presents them as parallel traditions.
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