Chinese surname · rank 354

家 is read as jiā.

Pinyin

jiā

Script forms

Simplified 家 · Traditional 傢

Basic meaning

house, home, residence; family

Five element

Earth

Origin

Time: Western Zhou tradition, 1046-771 BCE

Place: Zhou Jiafu ancestor-name layer and Lu Zijia style-name branch; Jiapu simplification layer.

Origin note

Jia is treated as a surname from ancestor-name and style-name traditions, not as a surname derived from the ordinary word family. One source layer traces it to Zhou Xiao Wang's son Jiafu, whose descendants used Jia from the ancestor name. A second layer comes from Lu in the Spring and Autumn period: Gongsun Guifu, a grandson of Lu Zhuang Gong, was styled Zijia, and descendants are said to have taken Jia from that style. CCTV's Baijia Jiangtan summary also records a later route from the compound surname Jiapu being shortened to Jia. Since these accounts point to different branches, this page presents them as parallel Ji-surname and compound-surname traditions rather than as one universal founder claim.

Historical figures

Historical figures to enrich

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Sources checked