GGood Chinese Name

Chinese surname · rank 14

朱

朱 is read as zhū.

Pinyin

zhū

Script forms

Simplified 朱 · Traditional 硃

Basic meaning

red; cinnabar/vermilion

Five element

Pending review

Origin

Time: Western Zhou tradition, 1046-771 BCE

Place: Ancient Zhu / 邾 state tradition, commonly associated with the Zou / Shandong region.

Origin note

A major Zhu tradition connects the surname with the ancient Zhu state, written 邾. Cao Xie was remembered as an enfeoffed ruler there. After the state was destroyed, descendants used the state name; some later dropped the邑 component and wrote the surname as 朱.

Historical figures

朱熹 (Zhu Xi)

1130-1200 CE · Song Neo-Confucian philosopher

One of the most influential Confucian thinkers after Confucius and Mencius, deeply shaping later education and state examinations.

朱元璋 (Zhu Yuanzhang)

1328-1398 CE · founder of the Ming dynasty

The Hongwu Emperor, whose rise from commoner background to dynastic founder made Zhu an imperial surname in Ming history.

Sources checked