Chinese surname · rank 312
普
普 is read as pǔ.
pǔ
Simplified and traditional 普
universal, general, widespread
Earth
Time: Sixteen-Kingdoms and Northern Wei Xianbei/Tuoba Pu layer, Song southwest Miao chieftain bestowed-surname layer, Ming-Qing Yunnan Yi tusi layer, Ming Shanxi-Henan distribution, and modern multiethnic distribution evidence; Xia-dynasty tradition, c. 2070-1600 BCE
Place: Northern Wei and Xianbei/Tuoba northern context; Shanxi and Henan Ming distribution; southwest Miao and Yunnan Yi tusi contexts; Yunnan Longchuan, Lushui, Hekou, Qiubei, Lunan; Hubei Laohekou; Beijing, Tianjin Wuqing, Hebei Shangyi, Shandong Yutai and Pingyi, Shanxi Yuanqu; blackwater/Yalu River and Manchu-Ewenki Daputu branch contexts in later surname summaries
Origin note
Pu is read pu as a surname. The main northern layer is Xianbei: surname sources connect Pu with Tuoba/Xianbei lines, including a Northern Wei tradition in which Xian Di's second elder brother was made Pu, and other summaries connect Pu with Tuoba Pugen and early Xianbei elite branches. A separate southwestern layer is not a Han clan origin but a bestowed or sinicized surname layer: 23mofang says Song-period southwest Miao chieftains who submitted were often given Pu, and that in Ming and Qing Yunnan many Yi tusi carried Pu. Modern Pu also appears among Mongol, Hui, Hani, Lahu, Tibetan, Dong, Lisu, Jingpo, Wa, Ewenki, Manchu, and other groups. The page therefore presents Pu as a surname shaped by Xianbei, southwest indigenous, tusi, and multiethnic changed-surname layers rather than a single ancient founder.
Historical figures
Historical figures to enrich
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