Extremely rare family name: Can you guess the pronunciation?

Language Learning Chinese
1

I’ve seen zhuyin used for unusual given names, but this is the first time I’ve seen it needed for a surname (I blacked out the bopomofo)…

20260510_122313~3
20260510_122313~31920×1389 478 KB

I’ve asked about 60 different native Chinese speakers (adults and school aged) if they were familiar with this name, and so far zero have known it or were even able to guess the pronunciation correctly.

Here’s your challenge: Are you smarter than a (native Mandarin speaking) fifth grader?

Please just say whether you know it or not, and if not, your best pronunciation guess. I will reveal the answer later.

If you’re very political or you live in Taoyuan you might have seen this billboard and already know.

2

I don’t know it, I guess Chui or Zhui.

3

Like this 似

Sì

I asked 1 Taiwanese from Kaohsiung and they said his mother was also a politician. Then gave me the answer.

4

Well, since someone already posted the answer, here it is…

20260510_122313~2
20260510_122313~21920×1389 479 KB

5

You’re supposed to guess it , that’s the whole point. Anybody can look it up.

6

Lǔ and Guān were the most popular guesses I received, but really there were many. That’s where an alphabetic writing system outshines—at least you can get close…except for Irish and French :joy:

7

That was my thought.

Yeah Chinese writing isn’t the best for phonetic clues.

8

That was my guess.

I’m surprised that ㄙˋ wasn’t changed due to it’s similarity to ㄙˇ.

9

I guess the ancestor was a blacksmith or swordsmith.

Similar to Smith in England. Am I right or am I wrong ? :blush:
Probably well wrong but it’s fun to guess.

10

What dat wierd star symbol mean

11

Why, “Kind Mindfulness Team,” of course. :wink:

13

Don’t know the answer, going to guess fu.

Now I am going to use my boshiamy IME to type and peak at the answer.

PBO 佀 Holy cow, it’s 四, and it’s the alternative way of writing 似

14

I wonder if obscure surnames would be more likely to belong to descendants of Waishengren, since they came from all over China, and brought their surnames over with them. I thus wonder if having an obscure surname could potentially have been an advantage for a KMT politician, or a liability for a DPP one. Maybe not so important anymore though.