Xie

Xie is a Chinese-language surname. lt is usually romanized as "Hsieh" in Taiwan. It is estimated that there are more than ten million people with this surname, the majority of whom live in Taiwan, Southern China, South East Asia, America, Europe and Africa. It is particularly common in Taiwan where it is the 13th most common surname in 2016. It is also very common in the east Asian diaspora which historically tended to have disproportionately emigrated out of southern China. A 2013 study found that Xie was the 23rd most common surname in China, with 0.79% of the population having this surname. In 2019 it was again the 23rd most common surname in Mainland China. The majority of Xie are from south of China. It is the 34th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem. The surname originated in two major branches: during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, and near the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was a prominent aristocratic clan in the Eastern Jin dynasty of China. The hometown of the Xie is Kaifeng, Henan Province. Variations The spelling of the same Chinese character using Wade–Giles romanization is Hsieh. The spelling "Hsieh" is most commonly used in Taiwan and in older romanizations, particularly by older generations of the Chinese and Taiwanese diaspora, for instance in the United States. "Hsieh" has been often phonologically adapted to "Shay" in English-speaking society, for instance in the United States, as a result of anglicisation. Other variations are pronounced "Sh'eh" and the spelling is sometimes modified as Shieh.