Meaning of Last Name

Wu is the Pinyin transliteration of the Chinese surname 吳 (Traditional Chinese), 吴 (Simplified Chinese), which is the tenth most common surname in Mainland China. Several other, less common Chinese surnames with different pronunciations are also translated into English as "Wu": 武, 伍, 仵, 烏, 鄔 and 巫. The Cantonese and Hakka transliteration of 吳 is Ng, a syllable made entirely of a nasal consonant. In Vietnamese, many of those are read differently, for example Võ or Vũ for 武, Ngô for 吳, Ô for 烏. Wu (or Woo or Wou) is also the Cantonese transliteration of the different Chinese surname 胡 (see Hu), used in Hong Kong, and by overseas Chinese of Cantonese speaking areas of Guangdong, or Hong Kong origin. 吳 is also one of the most common surnames in Korea. It is spelled 오 in Hangul and romanized O by the three major romanization systems, but more commonly spelled Oh in South Korea. It is also related far back in Chinese history with the name "Zhou".