What is "liu"

劉 / 刘 (Liu, Lao, Lau, Low, Lauv, Lieh, Lieu, Liew, Loo, Lowe, Liou or Yu) is a common Chinese family name. The Liu as transcribed in English can represent several different surnames written in different Chinese characters:

• 劉 ( traditional) / 刘 ( simplified), pinyin: Liú. A very common surname, as it was the family name of Han Dynasty emperors.
• 柳 pinyin: Liǔ in Mandarin Chinese, Lau : Cantonese
• 留 pinyin: Liú in Mandarin, Lau : Cantonese
• 六 pinyin: Liù in Mandarin, Lyuk : Cantonese
• 廖 Cantonese pinyin: Liu 6, Mandarin : Liao, Wu

In Cantonese transliteration, 刘/劉 (Liú) is Lau, Lao is also transliteration of 刘/劉 in Min Nan and Taiwanese Minnan Chinese language, whilst Liu is a different surname, 廖, pinyin: Liào, (Liêu in Vietnamese).

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, Low 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, same romanized in Gan. The other variants of the romanised surname Liu, i.e. 柳, 留 and 六, are uncommon among speakers of Hakka.

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.

Liu is a Chinese surname.

Liu or LIU may also refer to:

• Liù, the slave girl in Turandot
• Liu, Estonia, a village in Gulf of Riga, north Europe
• Laureate International Universities
• Lebanese International University, Lebanon
• Linköping University, Sweden
• Long Island University, New York, United States
• Lughat il-Ishaarah il-Urduniah, the Jordanian name for Levantine Arabic Sign Language or Syro-Jordanian Sign Language

Liu is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin found in China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan.

During ancient times, the Liu family ( Emperor Yi of Chu) emigrated to Korea and the citizens of Silla gave them the surname Liu. The Korean name Liu can be spelled in English as Ryu or Yoo.

In ancient times, Yao people by the name of Liu emigrated from Guangdong, Guangxi to Vietnam, and the spelling changed in English to Lieu.

The character 柳 is also used as a surname in Japan and pronounced Yanagi. In the modern age, some Japanese people have migrated throughout East Asia and adopted the surname Liu, Yoo or Lieu.