Kuo
A Chinese surname most often representing the Mandarin pronunciation of several different Chinese family names written with different characters.
The #4,767 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 41,576 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kuo is a Romanized Chinese surname. In Mandarin it commonly reflects 郭, a very old family name whose original sense was a city wall or outer enclosure, and it can also represent other surnames in some romanization traditions. Because several Chinese surnames can be written as Kuo in English, the exact character and literal root depend on the family line.
History
The surname is especially familiar in Taiwan and in older Wade-Giles romanization, where 郭 was commonly written Kuo. In mainland China and in modern pinyin it is usually written Guo. The name also appears in overseas Chinese communities, where spellings have often been shaped by local romanization practices rather than a single standard.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Kuo is a classic example of a surname whose English spelling depends more on romanization history than on the Chinese family name itself.
From the historical record
“fatlier-in-law, the aged earl of Lennox. No kuo^vii record specifies their crime, and our histo- rians have conjectured that the charge was one of high treason, for the alleged usui-pation of the government on tlie part of Albany. Walter Stew- art, the eldest son, was first tried, on the 24th of May, and being…”
— The Scottish Nation; or, the surnames, families ... of the people of Scotland, vol. 1