Liu

劉 / 刘 (Liu, Lao, Lau, Ryu, Yoo, Leo, Lew, Lieu, Liou) is a Chinese surname. The Liu (/ljuː/)[1] as transcribed in English can represent several different surnames written in different Chinese characters:

• 劉 (traditional) / 刘 (simplified), pinyin: Liú in Mandarin Chinese, Lau: Cantonese. A surname, as it was the family name of Han dynasty emperors.
• 柳 pinyin: Liǔ in Mandarin Chinese, Lau: Cantonese
• 留 pinyin: Liú in Mandarin Chinese, Lau: Cantonese
• 六 pinyin: Liù in Mandarin Chinese, Luk: Cantonese
• 廖 pinyin: Liu6 in Cantonese, Liào: Mandarin Chinese
• 侶 pinyin: Lǚ in Mandarin Chinese, Leoi5: Cantonese used in “情侣”

Liu

Liú surname in traditional Chinese charactersp
Pronunciation	Liú (Pinyin) Lâu (Pe̍h-ōe-jī)
Language(s)	Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese
Origin
Language(s)	Old Chinese
Derivation	Surname of the Han dynasty's ruling family
Other names
Variant form(s)	Liú (Mandarin) Lau, Lao (Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew) Lieu (Shanghainese) Lưu (Vietnamese) Yoo, Ryu (Korean)
See also	Yoo or Ryu (Korean name)

In Cantonese transliteration, 刘/劉 (Liú) is Lau, Lao is also a transliteration of 刘/劉 in Southern Min and Taiwanese Hokkien, while Liu is a different surname, 廖, pinyin: Liào.

In Shanghainese, 刘/劉 is romanized as Lieu and rarely Lieh; 柳 is similarly romanized; whereas 廖 is transliterated as Lioh

In Teochew, 刘/劉 is usually romanized as Lau or Lao; 柳 is written as Lew; and 廖 is romanized as Leow or Liau.

In Hakka, 刘/劉 is most commonly transliterated as Liew while 廖 is written as Liau or Liaw. The other variants of the romanised surname Liu, i.e. 柳, 留 and 六, are uncommon among speakers of Hakka.

In Gan, 刘/劉 is most commonly transliterated as Liew or Lieu, 廖 is written as Lieo or Liau.

In Hokkien, 刘/劉 is most commonly pronounced as Lau

The Indonesian-Chinese descent Latinise it according to Dutch pronunciation as Lauw.

In Vietnamese, the name can either take the form Liễu (in northern regions), or Lưu (in central or southern regions), or Lục. A few having Vietnamese-Chinese descent use the family name Lao.