An estimated 96-million people, or 7,4% of China’s 1,3-billion population, share the surname Li, state media on Tuesday quoted a survey as saying.
The next-most-popular Chinese surnames were Wang and Zhang, at 7,2% and 6,8% respectively, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The survey was conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Dinchang company among about 296-million people with 4 100 different surnames in 1 110 counties and cities.
The percentage of people with each of three most popular surnames had dropped marginally against the results of a survey 20 years ago, but one of the researchers said that was most likely because of the different methodology used.
”The decline of the three big name owners actually is a matter of research methods,” the agency quoted researcher Yuan Yida as saying.
”Last time’s sample population was only 570 000; this time, however, is nearly 300-million. It’s incomparable,” Yuan said.
Data on the distribution of Chinese family names could also help to map the genetic characteristics of the population, he said.
Chinese historians have recorded the use of family names dating back 5 000 years. The surnames are usually passed on paternally. — Sapa-DPA