Xu
A common Chinese surname, most often written 徐, with roots in an ancient place-name and state in early China.
The #1,381 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,050 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Xu is a Chinese surname most commonly written 徐. It is traditionally traced to an ancient place-name and the state of Xu in early China, whose name was later adopted as a family surname. In Chinese surname history, many names of this type began as the name of a territory or polity and then passed to descendants or residents connected with it.
History
Xu has been used for many centuries in China and remains common among Chinese families worldwide. In modern pinyin it is written Xu, though older romanizations and dialect forms can appear in other spellings depending on region and migration history. Because several unrelated Chinese surnames can be romanized the same way in English, different Xu families may have different Chinese characters behind the same spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In English-language records, Xu is often a romanization rather than a single family line, so two people spelled the same way may not share the same Chinese character or ancestor.