Bai Jia Xing compound surname #4
欧阳
欧阳 is read as Ōuyáng. It is one of the 60 compound surnames in the expanded Bai Jia Xing sequence.
Ōuyáng
Simplified 欧阳 · Traditional 歐陽
place-name surname meaning the sunny side of Ouyu/Ou mountain
Earth
Time: Late Warring States, c. 333-221 BCE
Place: Ouyu Mountain / Wucheng tradition in Zhejiang-Huzhou region
Origin
欧阳 is traditionally traced to the Yue royal line after Yue was defeated by Chu. Descendants of Yue king Wujiang's son Ti were associated with Ouyu Mountain near Wucheng, and those on the mountain's yang side used Ouyang as a surname.
Name meaning
The surname has a geographic and poetic structure: Ou preserves the place name, while yang is the sun-facing side of a hill. It is the most recognizable Chinese compound surname today.
Historical figures
欧阳修
Ouyang Xiu was a major Northern Song statesman, historian and prose master, so Ouyang can sound scholarly, classical and high-literary.
欧阳锋
Ouyang Feng is the famous 'Western Venom' from Jin Yong's Legend of the Condor Heroes, giving the surname a strong wuxia and villain-master aura.