Lưu or Luu without diacritics is a Vietnamese surname. It is also the Vietnamese transliteration of the Chinese surnameLiu. during the Ancient, The Yao people use surname Liu, H'mong-Mien Lìu, they emigrate from Guangdong, Guangxi, to Vietnam. during the Yuan dynasty, the Mongols used the surname Liu in Vietnam. In according to folk-story "Hùng Vương Ngọc Phả" one of 50 son of Kinh Dương Vương there was Lưu Lang, who joined with Mother Âu Cơ and settled to northern mountain area of Van Lang. Luu Lang is considered as Ancestor of all Vietnamese/Kinh people possessed surname Luu. And other folktale: "Sự tích trầu cau" - Legend of areca nuts and betel leaves, its mentioned about a Landlord with surname Luu. The offering of areca nuts and betel leaves to the ancestors is a Vietnamese wedding ritual. It's also ancient legendary story only. Lưu is a Vietnamese surname. Some Lưu are of Han Chinese descent. Between changes in Chinese dynasties and regimes, there were several major Luu/Liu families who immigrated to Vietnam. An example would be the Shu Han 蜀漢 dynasty where Emperor Liu Bei's 劉備descendants left their capital Chengdu in Sichuan. After losing the Cao Wei 曹魏dynasty in the Three Kingdoms 三國 era, many royalties and peasants alike headed south and eventually escaped to Vietnam. Another major immigration period is in 1949 when the communist took over China and many loyal nationalist of the Republic of China left to Vietnam. Prior to French occupation, Vietnamese writing was in Chinese characters and Luu was written as 劉. After French occupation, alphabets were introduced and Liu surnames were spelled as Luu. In 1919, the French government abandoned the use of Chinese characters and forced the Vietnamese to use strictly French's alphabet spelling system. Many descendants of Luu who speak Chinese would spell Luu in English and write 劉 as their Chinese surname. After the Vietnam War in 1975, many left the country and resettled all over the world. The majority resides in France and the United States.
Notable people with the surname Lưu
Luu Co, one of "four important person" under Đinh Dynasty of Emperor Đinh Bộ Lĩnh. Lưu Cơ was the first mayor of Đại La city nominated directly by Đinh Tiên Hoàng after Vietnam regained independence from China.
Lưu Văn Lợi, lawyer, former chief of Department for Border Department of SRV Government.
Lưu Quang Vũ, Vietnamese playwright, poet and writer
Đinh Xuân Lưu, Vietnamese Ambassador to Poland and Israel
