Eight Great Surnames of Chinese Antiquity

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The eight great surnames of Chinese antiquity were among the most important Chinese surnames in Chinese antiquity.^[1][2] They are all Chinese ancestral surnames^{[citation needed]}, and as such, have Chinese clan surnames branching off from them.^[3] Earlier Chinese societies were commonly matriarchal, so family names from the time typically passed from women to their children. Because of this phenomenon, these eight surnames have a component of their hanzi representing the character woman (女).^[1][4]

As of 2019, very few people had one of these surnames as a family name.^[2] An exception is the surnames Yao^[5][2] and Jiang.^[6][2] Of these, there are some well-known Chinese of modern times with these names today. One example is Yao Ming (姚明).^[7]