Yún (surname)

Yun (simplified Chinese: 云; traditional Chinese: 雲; pinyin: Yún) is a Chinese surname, listed 41st in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames.[1]

Yun
The small seal script character for Yun
Pronunciation
Language(s)Chinese
Origin
Language(s)Old Chinese
Meaningcloud
Other names
Derivative(s)

The Chinese surname Yun (云) may be confused with the common Korean surname Yun (윤) which instead derives from the Chinese character 尹 (yǐn), meaning "governor".

Origin

Very few outside cognates of Old Chinese *[ɢ]ʷən (Baxter-Sagart) exist. Starostin compares it with Mizo vân (“sky, the skies, heaven”) and Karbi inghun (“cloud”). It could possibly derive from a root meaning “to revolve”. Compare 運 (OC *[ɢ]ʷər-s, “to move”), 回 (OC *[ɢ]ʷˤəj, “to whirl, to circle”) (Schuessler, 2007). OC *[ɢ]ʷˤəj bears striking similarities to Ket -ga (Proto-Yenisseian *gaj). [2]

Distribution

Yun is a rare surname,[3] being the 323rd most common surname in China and shared among 156,000 people as of 2013.[4]

Tumeds

Yun is the surname of many Tümeds, a Chinese-speaking Mongol ethnic group.[5] Some Tumeds had the surname "Yun" during China's Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), and claim even more ancient origins. However, adoption of the surname greatly increased during the 1920s, and especially after the 1949 revolution, which increased Mongols' access to education.[6] Mongolian names in the Mongolian language generally do not contain surnames, so Mongols chose surnames when registering for Chinese elementary school. In those schools, adoption of the Yun surname became a social norm for Tumeds, who are largely endogamous.[6] The most famous Tumed with the surname "Yun" was Ulanhu (Chinese: 云泽; pinyin: Yúnzé), chairman of Inner Mongolia (1947–1966) and Vice President of China (1983–1988). During the 1980s and 1990s, the "Yun family" was identified with the dominant "West Mongol" (Tumed) faction in the Inner Mongolian government. The other two factions were that of the "East Mongols" (Khorchin tribe) and the Inner Mongolian Han.[7] The perceived nepotism among the Yun family in Ulanhu's government was a frequent object of satire by government critics. According to anthropologist Uradyn Bulag,[5]

One story tells that when someone went to the Inner Mongolian government building and shouted, "Lao [senior] Yun!" almost half of the office windows were opened. Realizing his mistake, the person shouted, "Xiao [junior] Yun!"; the other half of the windows then opened.... A similar story is that there were so many Yuns seeking to attend Ulahu's funeral in Beijing that it became difficult to buy train tickets.

Notable Chinese people

Historical figures

Modern figures

Fictional characters
  • Wan Fei Yeung (云飞扬), protagonist of the 1979 Hong Kong TV series Reincarnated
  • Yun, a supporting character of the two novels of Avatar Kyoshi, in which he was mistaken to be the next Earth Avatar for sixteen long years.

References
  1. 百家姓 [Hundred Family Surnames] (in Chinese). Guoxue. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  2. "Yenisseian etymology : Query result".
  3. Yang, Chiu-ying (2009-03-25). "Man on the hunt for rare family names". Taipei Times. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  4. "百家姓"排行榜刷新"王"取代"李"成第一大姓氏. 新华网 (in Chinese). 2013-04-15. Archived from the original on 2013-04-28.
  5. Bulag, Uradyn Erden (2002). The Mongols at China's Edge: History and the Politics of National Unity. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 213.
  6. Yun, Xiaomei (2004). Irimoto, Takashi; Yamada, Takako (eds.). "Ethnic Identity of Tumed Mongols in Inner Mongolia". Senri Ethnological Studies. Circumpolar Ethnicity and Identity. 66: 325–341.
  7. Atwood, Christopher (2005-04-11), China's Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law: Does It Protect Minority Rights?, Roundtable with the First Session of the 109th Congress, Congressional-Executive Commission on China, p. 18
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