Mi (surname)


Mi is the ancient ancestral surname 羋, most notably the name of the imperial house of State of Chu during the Warring States period. It is also the pinyin romanisation of various modern Chinese surnames, including 麋, 米, 禰 and others.

Mǐ

The Mǐ were the royal house of the states of Chu and Kui during the later Zhou dynasty. They claimed descent from Zhuanxu via his grandson Jilian, whom they credited with founding their dynasty. The Chu Lexicon at the University of Massachusetts conjectures that it was a native Chu word whose meaning was "bear", explaining the cadet members of the family recorded with the surname Xiong.
Chu had a long history of dividing its royal family into numerous cadet branches. Two of the earliest branches of Mi were Dou and Cheng, together they were known as the Ruo'ao clan. Jing clan, Zhao clan, and Qu clan were later formed by descendants of different Chu kings. Sanlü was the unified clan name for Jings, Zhaos and Qus. Minor branches include Ye, Xiang, Lan, Zha among others.
Some of the Pans of China come from a cadet branch of the family, descended from Pan Chong of the Chu line.

Notable people with the surname

Mi (羋)

59th on the "Hundred Family Surnames". It is considered one of the "Nine Sogdian Surnames."