Ke (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) 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, Koa, 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

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There are several origins of this last name:

  1. the descendants of Duke Ke Lu (柯盧) of the State of Wu during the Spring and Autumn period;
  2. the descendants of a tribe in the Northern Wei dynasty whose surname was originally Keba (柯拔) but was simplified to Ke;
  3. 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

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Prominent people with the family name Kha

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Kha is a Vietnamese variant of the family name Ke (柯)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Origin of the surname Ke, Ker, and Quah
  2. ^ "Chinese surname No.164 Ke".
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