Ye
A short surname that is most often found in Chinese families, especially as the romanization of several different Chinese names.
The #3,609 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,380 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Ye is a romanized surname form used for more than one Chinese family name, depending on the dialect and romanization system. In modern usage it is most commonly associated with the Mandarin surname 叶/葉, usually rendered as Ye in pinyin and meaning “leaf.” In older or other dialect-based systems it can also represent other Chinese surnames with different characters and histories, so the written form alone does not tell you the exact original surname character.
History
As a Latin-letter surname, Ye became common through the international spread of Chinese romanization systems and diaspora migration. In English-speaking countries it is often encountered among immigrants and their descendants from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia. Because several Chinese surnames can be rendered the same way in roman letters, family history is often needed to identify the precise ancestral character.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same surname sound may be written with different Chinese characters, so two people with the surname Ye may not actually have the same original family name character.