Ke (Chinese: 柯; pinyin: Kē) is a Chinese surname. It originally appeared on the Hundred Family Surnames.[where?] As of 2006 was no longer one of the top 100 most common surnames.[citation needed] A 2013 study found that it was the 145th most common surname, shared by 1.06 million people or 0.080% of the population, with the province most being Hubei. It is also spelled as Quah, Qua, Kua, Kuah, Kwa, Ke, Ker, Ko, Kok, or O in English, owing to variations in dialect (for instance, O derives from the Cantonese pronunciation of the character) or romanisation system (compare Ke, which derives from Pinyin, with Ko, which derives from Wade-Giles.)
Origin
editThere are several origins of this last name:
- the descendants of Duke Ke Lu (柯盧) of the State of Wu during the Spring and Autumn period;
- the descendants of a tribe in the Northern Wei dynasty whose surname was originally Keba (柯拔) but was simplified to Ke;
- the descendants of the Qiang tribe or the Xianbei tribe with the last name Ke.
One website lists it as originating from the town of Han in Zhejiang Province[1] while another states it originated in Jiyang Prefecture (located in present-day Dingtao County, Shandong Province) during the Jin dynasty (266–420).[2]
Prominent people with the family name 柯
edit- Cua Yi Lam, baptized as Domingo Lamco, patrilineal ancestor of Jose Rizal, Philippine national hero
- Ke Mengde, a Song dynasty poet
- Ke Jiusi (柯九思), a Yuan dynasty officer
- Ke Qian, a Ming dynasty scholar
- Ke Weizhen, a Qing dynasty poet
- Blackie Ko Shou Liang (柯受良), modern director, actor, stuntman
- Alan Ke You Lun (柯有綸) a Taiwanese singer and actor; son of Blackie Ko Shou Liang
- Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), Taiwanese politician
- Danny Quah Professor of economics, London School of Economics
- Kwa Geok Choo, the wife of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew
- Ko Chen-tung (柯震東), a Taiwanese actor and singer
- Ko Chia-yen (柯佳嬿), a Taiwanese actress
- Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), mayor of Taipei
- Ke Jie (柯洁), a Chinese World Go Champion
- Quah Chow Cheung (柯昭璋), a Hong Kongese commissioner
- Simon Ko, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Republic of China
- Quah Kim Lye, a Singaporean footballer
- Quah Kim Song (柯金松), a Singaporean footballer
- Quah Ting Wen (柯婷文), a Singaporean swimmer
- Quah Zheng Wen (柯政文), a Singaporean swimmer
- Quah Jing Wen (柯敬文), a Singaporean swimmer
- Ke Qingshi (柯庆施), senior Chinese politician
- Quah Nian King (柯年庆), prominent entrepreneur in Malaysia and Singapore
Prominent people with the family name Kha
editKha is a Vietnamese variant of the family name Ke (柯)
- Kha Mỹ Vân, a Vietnamese model
See also
editReferences
editExternal links
edit
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