Bai Jia Xing compound surname #32
司空
司空 is read as Sīkōng. It is one of the 60 compound surnames in the expanded Bai Jia Xing sequence.
Pinyin
Sīkōng
Script forms
Simplified and traditional 司空
Meaning
office-title surname from Sikong, administrator of works and land
Five element
Earth
Origin
Time: Zhou-period office-title origin, c. 1046-256 BCE
Place: Zhou court works-and-land office
Origin
司空 was a major office concerned with land, public works, settlement, and infrastructure. Later surname traditions connect different branches to descendants of office holders.
Name meaning
The surname sounds practical and administrative: land, works, settlement, and state-building.
Historical figures
司空图 Sikong Tu
Sikong Tu was a late Tang poet and literary theorist.