The four most difficult surnames in China are Gou, Du, Shi and Cao.
1. The surname Gou
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the surname Gou appeared. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the surname Gou was already a common surname at that time. Today, there are many people with the surname Gou nationwide, about 300,000. Among them, they are most distributed in Sichuan. During the Ming Dynasty, there was also a person named Gouzeng, namely Gouzeng, who rose to the rank of Minister of Dali Temple. According to research, the surname Gou is a descendant of Emperor Huang and Emperor Shun, and he is said to be quite high-ranking. However, due to the homophony of "Gou" and "dog", the surname Gou became awkward.
2. The surname Poison
There is a story about the origin of the surname Poison. That was during the Tang Dynasty. At that time, there was a prime minister named Dou Huaizhen. Although he was powerful and popular for a while, he still wanted to go to the next level. So, he colluded with another member of the royal family - Princess Taiping. After Li Longji, Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, learned about it, he ambushed 500 Yulin troops and killed them all. Princess Taiping was given to die at home. In order to express punishment for Dou Huaizhen, Li Longji will change his surname to "Du" based on the homophony of his descendant "Dou".
3. The surname Shi
The surname Shi originated from the Tuoba tribe of Xianbei during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. More than 1,600 years ago, after Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty, leader of the Xianbei Tuoba Tribe, ascended the throne, he advocated ethnic integration and eased ethnic barriers, and moved the capital from Pingcheng (today's Datong, Shanxi) to Luoyang (today's Luoyang, Henan). Since then, this surname has spread in the Central Plains area. Today, there are sporadic distribution in Henan, Ningxia and other places, with a total of about 1,000 people.
4. The surname Cao
The earliest historical figure recorded in history books with the surname Cao was Cao Shiqi, the leader of the peasant uprising in the late Sui Dynasty. Cao Shiqi was from Jiangxi. At that time, he and his fellow villager Lin Shihong led an uprising and conquered Yuzhang (now Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province). They called themselves King Yuanxing and established the beginning of Yuanxing. Later he was killed by an arrow. The surname Cao appeared very early. It was during the Yin Dynasty. King Pan Geng of Yin granted an official position to the doctor, and people got their names based on this official position.
The Chinese pay attention to naming:
The ancients attached great importance to people’s names, and they also had a lot of particularity in choosing names. Moreover, their naming method was different from today. A person not only had a surname and a given name, but also had an additional prefix and nickname. The so-called "name is the correct form, the character is the symbol of virtue, and the title is the symbol of one's feelings." These three include the entire character of an individual. The names of ancient Chinese people contain many profound traditional cultural connotations and involve a lot of cultural knowledge. The way and connotation of naming by the ancients has important reference significance for our naming today.