Wei
A surname of Chinese origin, most often representing the Mandarin family name Wei.
The #3,707 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,235 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Wei is best known today as a Chinese surname, usually rendered in Mandarin with a syllable pronounced roughly "way." In Chinese it can correspond to more than one character and family line, so the English spelling alone does not tell you the original Chinese character or exact meaning. Because the same Romanized form can represent different surnames, the name is best treated as a transliteration rather than a single fixed English etymology.
History
In English-language records, Wei is primarily encountered through modern Chinese immigration and Romanization practices, especially in the 20th century. Older British surname dictionaries do not provide a clear native English origin for Wei as a standalone surname, and the OCR excerpts here appear unrelated or incomplete rather than explanatory. As a result, its historical development in English is better understood as a modern imported surname form than as an inherited English surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The spelling Wei can represent different Chinese surnames depending on the underlying Chinese character, so two people with the same Roman letters may not share the same ancestral line.
From the historical record
“WEIGHTIVIAN for Waithman, q.v. WEI NT for Went, q.v. WEIR, V. Weap(e. Note: "The M'Nairs of Cowal, &c., Anglicize their name as Weir." — MacBain, Inverness Names, p. 62. WELBORN(E ] (Eng.) Bel. to Welborne WELBOURN(E WNorf.), Welbourne (Lines),”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Wei
- Shang Yang (-389–-337)
- Hua Mulan
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.