Tu Family History
Tu Surname Meaning
Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 塗 (or 涂) meaning ‘paint smear’ in Chinese: (i) from Tu (涂) the ancient name of the Chu river (located in present-day Anhui province and Jiangsu province). (ii) borne by descendants of Tu Qin (塗欽 or 涂欽) (246–337 AD) an official during the Western and Eastern Jin dynasty (265–420 AD) who migrated to southern China. (iii) shortened form of the compound surname Tu-Shan (塗山 or 涂山).
Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 屠 meaning ‘slaughter’ in Chinese: (i) shortened form of the compound surname Zou-Tu (鄒屠) the name of an ancient place (possibly located in Shandong province). (ii) simplified form of the placename Tu (屠阝) the name of a fief (located in Shaanxi province) which was said to be one of the families surnames also written as Tu (荼) during the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC). (iii) from Tu Peng (屠剻) post name of officials in charge of slaughtering animals in the state of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC).
Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 徒 meaning ‘disciple’ in ancient Chinese: probably shortened form of a set of Chinese compound surnames such as Si-Tu (司徒 see Situ), Tu-Ren (徒人) or Tu-He (徒河 or 徒何 a surname from the Xianbei ethnic group in ancient northern China).
Chinese: alternative Mandarin form of the surnames 杜, 都 and 堵 see Du.
Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 朱 see Zhu. Vietnamese (Từ): from the Chinese surname 徐 see Xu.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022