[Carlhole]

Chinese surname shortage sparks rethink

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('source', 'B')EIJING (AFP) - With more than a billion people now sharing just 100 surnames, Chinese authorities are considering a landmark move to try to end the confusion, state media reported Tuesday.

Current Chinese law states that children are only allowed take the surname from either their mother or father, but the lack of variety means there are now 93 million people in China with the family name Wang.

In a country of around 1.3 billion people, about 85 percent share only 100 surnames, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Ministry of Public Security in April and published in the China Daily newspaper on Tuesday.

The survey found 92 million people shared the surname Li, while 88 million were called Zhang. A further seven surnames -- including Chen, Zhou and Lin -- are held by at least 20 million Chinese...



...Under a new draft regulation released by the ministry of public security, parents will be able to combine their surnames for their children, a move that could open up 1.28 million new possibilities, the China Daily reported.

For instance, a father named Zhou and mother named Zhu could choose to call their child either Zhou, Zhu, Zhouzhu or Zhuzhou, the report added.

[mmasters]

Couldn't resist.

[video width=400 height=326]http://www.youtube.com/v/XF0otWk2c04[/video]

[Carlhole]

Man, 'Wang' makes 'Smith' seem positively unique.

'Wang' in Chinese means 'King' but it bears no relation to the English brag, "My wang is king!"

[Kylon]

Many find wangs to be kingley.

[pea-jay]

Combining names... whoo hoo...

now we can really have the name WangChung.

or is that the Wong approach?

[jboogy]

All feeble earthlings will inevitably recognize the awesome power and omnipetence of my wang and kneel in abject servitude and eventually surrender all free will in order to carry out it's wishes. AS IT WAS DECREED IN GENESIS!: chapter 1 verse 1

[AlCzervik]

"Wang, this place is restricted, so don't tell 'em you're Jewish, okay."