page_title: Li (surname 李)
section_title: Adoption by non-Han Chinese peoples
hierarchical_section_title: Li (surname 李) / Adoption by non-Han Chinese peoples
caption_attribution_description: Statue of Lý Thái Tổ in Hanoi, Vietnam.
context_page_description: Li is the second most common surname in China as of 2018, behind only Wang. It is one of the most common surnames in the world, shared by 92.76 million people in China, and more than 100 million worldwide. It is the fourth name listed in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames.
  The name is pronounced as "Lei" in Cantonese, but is often spelled as Lee in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and many other overseas Chinese communities. In Macau, it is also spelled as Lei. In Indonesia it is commonly spelled as Lie.
  The common Korean surname, Lee, and the Vietnamese surname, Lý, are both derived from Li and are historically written with the same Chinese character, 李. The character also means "plum" or "plum tree".
  According to tradition, the Li surname originated from the title Dali held by Gao Yao, a legendary minister of the Xia dynasty, and was originally written with the different character, 理. Laozi, the founder of Taoism, was the first historical person known to have the surname and is regarded as the founding ancestor of the surname.
context_section_description: Influenced by Chinese culture, many non-Han Chinese peoples living in and near China have adopted Chinese-style names throughout history, and Li is one of the most common surnames adopted. Li has been used by the Bai people for more than 1,000 years, and is one of the top three surnames among the Bai. Li is the fifth of the twelve most common surnames of the Yao people, who adopted the name more than 800 years ago. Li also has history of 500 years among the Miao people. Among the 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities in China, 33 are known to use the Li surname.
  Li (spelled Lý in modern Vietnamese) has been used in Vietnam for more than 2,000 years since the Han dynasty, when Northern Vietnam was ruled as a province of the Han Empire. In 544, Vietnam gained temporary independence from China when Lý Nam Đế founded the Early Lý dynasty. Lý Nam Đế (Li Nan Di), an ethnic Chinese, is often considered the first emperor of Vietnam. In 1009, Lý Thái Tổ established the Later Lý dynasty, which ruled Vietnam for more than 200 years. In 1232, after usurping the Lý dynasty, Grand Preceptor Trần Thủ Độ forced the descendants of the Lý royal family to change their surname to Nguyễn.
  The Koreans began using Chinese surnames during the Tang dynasty, with Li (romanized as Lee, Yi, or Rhee in Korea) being one of the top four. In 1392, Yi Seong-gye established the Joseon dynasty, which ruled Korea for more than 500 years.
caption: Lý Thái Tổ, founder of the Vietnamese Lý dynasty
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