Chinese surname · rank 318
茹
茹 is read as rú.
rú
Simplified and traditional 茹
roots; vegetables; eat; bear
Wood
Time: Northern and Southern Dynasties Rouran/Ruru and Northern Wei surname reform layers, Song Anhui-Zhejiang distribution, Ming Shanxi-Zhejiang-Hunan-Jiangsu distribution, and modern multiethnic distribution evidence; Northern Wei surname-change layer, 386-534 CE
Place: Rouran/Ruru northern steppe and Yinshan contexts; Daibei/Northern Wei context; Henan and Henei commandery labels; Song Anhui and Zhejiang distribution; Ming Shanxi, Zhejiang, Hunan and Jiangsu distribution; modern Zhejiang, Guangdong, Henan Xinxiang Luoyang and Mianchi area summaries
Origin note
Ru is read ru as a surname. The strongest layer is ethnic-name and changed-surname history: 23mofang connects Ru with Ruru, that is Rouran, a northern people related in the sources to Tuoba Xianbei contexts, and says people entering China used Ruru or the single surname Ru. It also records a Northern Wei reform layer in which the Daibei compound surname Pulouru was changed to Ru. A scholarly article on Rouran and Ru identity treats Ru as a multiethnic, multi-source surname, with Rouran as one important source and later Ru communities preserving that memory through phrases such as origin from Rouran. Other surname summaries add a separate Ru-to-Ru graph-change branch, from the old surname to , so this page keeps Ru as a layered Rouran, Xianbei compound-surname simplification, and local changed-surname entry rather than a single Han founder story.
Historical figures
Historical figures to enrich
This surname page is ready for a fame-ranked figure list. Later passes can add generals, poets, rulers, artists, scholars and modern public figures with source links.