Chinese surname · rank 281
佘
佘 is read as shé.
shé
Simplified and traditional 佘
Earth
Time: Spring-and-Autumn Qi-Sui/Sheqiu layer of about 2600 years in 23mofang, Western Han Sheqiu county layer, Jin and Tang Yu-She textual layers, Northern Song Zhe-to-She phonetic layer, Yuan-late Yunnan Mongol changed-surname layer, Ming Anhui-centered distribution layer, and modern Guangdong-Jiangsu-Sichuan distribution layer; Tang-layer tradition, 618-907 CE
Place: Sheqiu in the old Sui area around northwestern Ningyang and the Feicheng border, Shandong; Western Han Sheqiu county; Nanchang and Xinan/Shexian textual traditions; Shanxi and Baode/Zhewo Zhe-to-She tradition; Yunnan Zhenxiong Mongol changed-surname context; Anhui, Guangxi, Fujian, Hubei, Hebei, Hunan, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Chongqing, Shaanxi, Shanghai, Guizhou, Beijing, Yunnan, Shandong, Heilongjiang, Taiwan, and multi-ethnic contexts including Mongol, Hui, Manchu, Tujia, and Yi
Origin note
She is read sh as a surname. The strongest source-backed origin is place-name based: after Qi destroyed the state of Sui in the Spring-and-Autumn period, the old Sui area, around today's northwestern Ningyang and the Feicheng border in Shandong, became Sheqiu territory of Qi. A Qi official held an estate there, and descendants used Sheqiu or the shortened She as a surname; Western Han records later placed Sheqiu county in the same old Sheqiu area. A second layer is textual and phonetic: surname books and later scholarship describe close ties between Yu and She, with Yu shifting in pronunciation toward she and some families writing ; these accounts should be treated as a related documented tradition, not a single exclusive origin. A third layer is changed-surname history: 23mofang records Northern Song Shanxi Zhe families changing by pronunciation to She, including the tradition around She Taijun originally surnamed Zhe, and a Yuan-late Yunnan Mongol branch changing Tie to She to avoid trouble. The page keeps Sheqiu place-name, Yu-She textual, Zhe-to-She phonetic, and later changed-surname layers separate.
Historical figures
Historical figures to enrich
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