Yun () is a

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the ...

, listed 41st in the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

classic text A classic is a book accepted as being exemplary or particularly noteworthy. What makes a book "classic" is a concern that has occurred to various authors ranging from Italo Calvino to Mark Twain and the related questions of "Why Read the Cla ...

'' Hundred Family Surnames''. The Chinese surname Yun (云) may be confused with the common Korean surname Yun (윤) which instead derives from the Chinese character 尹 (yǐn), meaning "governor".

Origin

Very few outside cognates of Old Chinese * ��ən ( Baxter- Sagart) exist. Starostin compares it with

Mizo Mizo may refer to: *Mizo people, an ethnic group native to north-eastern India, western Myanmar (Burma) and eastern Bangladesh *Mizo language, a language spoken by the Mizo people *Mizoram, a state in Northeast India *Lusei people, an ethnic group ...

''vân'' (“sky, the skies, heaven”) and

Karbi Karbi may refer to: Places * Karbi, Armenia * Karbi Anglong Plateau, an extension of the Indian Plate in Assam, India * Karbi Anglong district, a district of Assam, north-eastern India Other uses * Karbi people, an ethnic group of North-east ...

''inghun'' (“cloud”). It could possibly derive from a root meaning “to revolve”. Compare 運 (OC * ��ər-s, “to move”), 回 (OC * ��ˤəj, “to whirl, to circle”) (Schuessler, 2007). OC * ��ˤəj bears striking similarities to

Ket Kentucky Educational Television (KET) is a state network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is operated by the Kentucky Authority for Educational Television, an agency of the Kentucky state governm ...

''-ga'' (Proto-Yenisseian *gaj).

Distribution

Yun is a rare surname, being the 323rd most common surname in China and shared among 156,000 people as of 2013.

Tumeds

Yun is the surname of many

Tümed The Tümed (Tumad, ; "The many or ten thousands" derived from Tumen) are a Mongol subgroup. They live in Tumed Left Banner, district of Hohhot and Tumed Right Banner, district of Baotou in China. Most engage in sedentary agriculture, living in mi ...

s, a Chinese-speaking

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...

ethnic group. Some Tumeds had the surname "Yun" during China's

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

(1644–1912), and claim even more ancient origins. However, adoption of the surname greatly increased during the 1920s, and especially after the 1949 revolution, which increased Mongols' access to education.

Mongolian name Mongolian names have undergone a number of changes in the history of Mongolia, both with regard to their meaning and their source languages. In Inner Mongolia, naming customs are now similar to Mongolia but with some differences. Historical evolu ...

s in the

Mongolian language Mongolian is the official language of Mongolia and both the most widely spoken and best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residen ...

generally do not contain

surnames In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name, ...

, so Mongols chose surnames when registering for Chinese

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

. In those schools, adoption of the Yun surname became a

social norm Social norms are shared standards of acceptance, acceptable behavior by groups. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social normat ...

for Tumeds, who are largely endogamous. The most famous Tumed with the surname "Yun" was

Ulanhu Ulanhu or Ulanfu ( 23 December 1907 – 8 December 1988), born Yun Ze (), was the founding Chairman of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, serving from 1947 to 1966. An ethnic Tumed Mongol, he took the nom de guerre Ulanhu () and had n ...

(), chairman of

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

(1947–1966) and Vice President of China (1983–1988). During the 1980s and 1990s, the "Yun family" was identified with the dominant "West Mongol" (Tumed) faction in the Inner Mongolian government. The other two factions were that of the "East Mongols" (

Khorchin The Khorchin ( mn, Хорчин, ''Horçin''; ''Qorčin''; ) are a subgroup of the Mongols that speak the Khorchin dialect of Mongolian and predominantly live in northeastern Inner Mongolia of China. History The Ming dynasty gave Borjigin pr ...

tribe) and the Inner Mongolian

Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

. The perceived

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

among the Yun family in Ulanhu's government was a frequent object of satire by government critics. According to anthropologist Uradyn Bulag,

One story tells that when someone went to the Inner Mongolian government building and shouted, "Lao eniorYun!" almost half of the office windows were opened. Realizing his mistake, the person shouted, "Xiao uniorYun!"; the other half of the windows then opened.... A similar story is that there were so many Yuns seeking to attend Ulahu's funeral in Beijing that it became difficult to buy train tickets.

Notable Chinese people

Historical figures

* Yun Dingxing ( 云定兴),

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

general

Modern figures

(1906–1988), also known as Yun Ze (云泽), former

Vice President of the People's Republic of China The vice president of the People's Republic of China (), also known as state vice chairman (), is a senior position in the government of the People's Republic of China. It was formerly translated as the vice chairman of the People's Republic of ...

(1983–1988) *

Yun Bulong Yun Bulong (; December 1937 – 12 June 2000) was a Chinese politician of Tumed Mongol ethnicity. He served as Chairman (Governor) of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 1998 until his accidental death in June 2000, when his car was hit by a tr ...

(云布龙; 1937–2000), former

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

(1998–2000) * Yun Damian ( 云大棉; born 1935), CPC politician, member of the 8th and 9th

CPPCC National Committee The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

s *

Hoon Thien How Hoon Thien How (born 24 December 1986) is a former badminton player from Malaysia who plays in the men's doubles category. Currently, he is one of the assistant coach for Malaysia men's doubles national team. Career Hoon Thien How and Tan ...

(云天豪; born 1986), Malaysian badminton player * Wan Cheung (云翔; born 1967), better known as

Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second World, Second and Third World, Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporti ...

, China-born Hong Kong film producer and director * Melvin Hoon (@criminalmindd), notable artist in Singapore * Thomas Hoon (雲惟煌; born 1977), a businessman based in Guangzhou, originally from Singapore

Fictional characters

* Yun Jin, fictional character from the video game ''Genshin Impact'' * Wan Fei Yeung (云飞扬), protagonist of the 1979

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

TV series '' Reincarnated'' *Yun, a supporting character of the two

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

of Avatar Kyoshi, in which he was mistaken to be the next Earth Avatar for sixteen long years.

References

External links

Further reading at ''Zhongwen Baike''

{{surname Chinese-language surnames Culture in Inner Mongolia Individual Chinese surnames