Chinese surname · rank 321
西
西 is read as xī.
xī
Simplified and traditional 西
west(ern); westward; occident; Kangxi radical 146
Earth
Time: ancient Xi/Xiling state-name tradition, Warring States Ximen Bao/Ximen simplification tradition, Ming-era Zhang-refuge changed-surname tradition in later summaries, and modern multiethnic distribution evidence; Warring States tradition, 475-221 BCE
Place: ancient Xi or Xiling state tradition with uncertain exact locality; Wei commandery around Ye in present-day Linzhang, Hebei; Ximen Bao's Ye/Warring States Wei context; modern clusters in Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Sichuan, Hubei, Xinjiang, Jilin, Hebei, Yunnan, Guangdong, Anhui, Liaoning, Qinghai and Tibet
Origin note
Xi is read xi as a surname. The page keeps the surname story separate from the everyday direction word 'west'. The most compact source-backed layer is state-name tradition: 23mofang says Xi comes from an ancient Xi state, while Hao86 and Zupulu preserve the related Xi or Xiling state explanation. A second layer is compound-surname simplification: some lines are explained as descendants of Ximen, especially traditions connected with the Warring States Wei official Ximen Bao, later shortening Ximen to Xi. A third layer is changed-surname history, including traditions of Zhang descendants or other families changing to Xi to avoid trouble; these are useful local clan traditions but are not presented as the single origin of all Xi families. Modern summaries also record Xi among Han, Gelao, Tibetan, Hui, Manchu and other communities, and on the Korean peninsula, so this is a multi-source rare surname rather than a simple compass-direction surname.
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.