GGood Chinese Name

Chinese surname · rank 336

厉

厉 is read as lì.

Pinyin

lì

Script forms

Simplified 厉 · Traditional 厲

Basic meaning

whetstone; grind, sharpen; whet

Five element

Earth

Origin

Time: Western Zhou Qi Li Gong posthumous-name tradition, ancient Li state/Lishan-Lixiang state-name tradition, Three Kingdoms Sun Wu forced surname-change layer, Tang Li Jin forced surname-change layer, Song and later Zhejiang-Danyang lineage evidence, and modern distribution sample; Western Zhou tradition, 1046-771 BCE

Place: Qi state in present-day Shandong for the Qi Li Gong layer; Li state or Lixiang around Lishan and northern Suixian/Suizhou, Hubei; Nan Yang commandery around present-day Nanyang, Henan as a prestige locality; Jiangdong/Jiangnan context for Sun Wu changed-surname layer; Tang capital political context for Li Jin branch; modern Zhejiang, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hunan, Shanghai, Beijing, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Henan and Hubei distribution

Origin note

Li is read li as a surname. Its oldest widely repeated layer is posthumous-name based: surname books say descendants of Qi Li Gong, a Jiang-line ruler of Qi, used the posthumous name Li as a surname. A second layer is state-name or place-name based, from the old Li state or Li township near Lishan in the Sui/Suizhou area of Hubei; descendants or residents used Li after the polity or locality. Later Li also includes forced changed-surname layers: in the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Hao of Wu is recorded as changing the family of Sun Xiu to Li after Sun Xiu fled to Jin or Wei, and later summaries record the Tang royal relative Li Jin's kin being changed to Li after the Taiping Princess affair. Because these layers are distinct and politically charged, the page presents Li as a multi-source surname formed from posthumous names, old state/place names, and punitive changed-surname histories, while using 23mofang only for modern distribution evidence.

Historical figures

Historical figures to enrich

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