Chinese surname · rank 322
芮
芮 is read as ruì.
ruì
Simplified and traditional 芮
tiny, small; water's edge
Water
Time: Western Zhou Rui Bo/Rui state tradition, Spring and Autumn fall-of-state surname formation, Song Zhejiang distribution, Ming Jiangsu-Anhui-Hebei distribution, and later Fufeng/Pingyuan commandery labels; Western Zhou tradition, 1046-771 BCE
Place: Rui state around present-day Chaoyi, Dali County, Shaanxi, and the Ruicheng/Shanxi locality tradition; Fufeng around present-day eastern Xianyang, Shaanxi; Pingyuan in Shandong; Song Zhejiang distribution; Ming Jiangsu, Anhui and Hebei distribution
Origin note
Rui is read rui as a surname. Its core origin is a Zhou state-name surname: sources trace it to the Ji-surname Rui polity and to Rui Bo, remembered as a Zhou minister and hereditary royal officer. 23mofang identifies Rui Bo Wan, style Liangfu, as a minister of King Wu of Zhou who was enfeoffed at Rui and served as situ under King Cheng; after the Rui polity fell, descendants used Rui as a surname. Other surname summaries also place the old Rui area around present-day Dali/Chaoyi in Shaanxi and sometimes connect it with Ruicheng in Shanxi. Because sources differ over whether the Spring and Autumn fall of Rui is described as caused by Jin or Qin, this page states the secure point: Rui is a Ji-surname state-name surname formed from the old Rui polity after its fall, with Fufeng and Pingyuan as later prestige lineages.
Historical figures
Historical figures to enrich
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