GGood Chinese Name

Chinese surname · rank 13

马

马 is read as mǎ.

Pinyin

mǎ

Script forms

Simplified 马 · Traditional 馬

Basic meaning

horse; large

Five element

Pending review

Origin

Time: Warring States tradition, 475-221 BCE

Place: Zhao-state Ma-fu title tradition; later Fufeng, Shaanxi lineage memory.

Origin note

The best-known Ma surname tradition traces to the Zhao general Zhao She of the Warring States period. After he was known as Lord Ma-fu, descendants used Ma-fu as a surname and later shortened it to Ma. Later lineage memory strongly connects Ma with Fufeng.

Historical figures

马援 (Ma Yuan)

14 BCE-49 CE · Eastern Han general

A prominent Han general remembered in historical tradition and associated with the phrase about staying vigorous in old age.

马致远 (Ma Zhiyuan)

c. 1250-1321 CE · Yuan dramatist and poet

One of the great Yuan qu writers, especially remembered for the short lyric Tianjing Sha: Autumn Thoughts.

Sources checked