Li Surname

2^nd

Most Common

surname in the World

Approximately 104,892,114 people bear this surname

Most prevalent in:

China

Highest density in:

China

Li Surname Definition:

(Chinese) One who lived near a plum tree.

Li Surname Distribution Map

Place	Incidence	Frequency	Rank in Area
China	102,565,454	1:13	2
Taiwan	1,153,301	1:20	5
Hong Kong	224,580	1:33	5
North Korea	213,149	1:118	25
Cambodia	126,331	1:123	9
United States	105,265	1:3,443	360
Thailand	81,944	1:862	5
Singapore	71,182	1:77	7
India	62,441	1:12,285	1,003
Russia	50,723	1:2,841	292
Canada	39,472	1:933	46
Vietnam	20,206	1:4,585	193
Australia	19,543	1:1,381	149
Italy	14,015	1:4,364	452
England	10,651	1:5,231	730
Myanmar	10,410	1:4,989	203
Macau	9,948	1:60	10
Malaysia	9,913	1:2,975	439
Spain	9,420	1:4,963	616
Japan	6,028	1:21,208	2,338
France	5,910	1:11,239	1,107
Madagascar	5,433	1:4,353	906
Uzbekistan	4,432	1:6,979	1,226
Mauritius	4,242	1:305	6
Indonesia	3,974	1:33,279	3,910
Kyrgyzstan	3,152	1:1,895	193
Germany	3,074	1:26,189	3,460
United Arab Emirates	2,883	1:3,178	403
Kazakhstan	2,592	1:6,822	1,044
Brazil	2,172	1:98,561	3,714
Bangladesh	2,073	1:76,873	3,642
Peru	2,042	1:15,565	1,964
Angola	1,972	1:13,686	1,647
Philippines	1,867	1:54,225	9,014
Sweden	1,861	1:5,291	497
Egypt	1,830	1:50,238	4,917
Netherlands	1,809	1:9,335	1,203
New Zealand	1,745	1:2,595	366
Latvia	1,712	1:1,197	97
Suriname	1,687	1:328	4
Belarus	1,485	1:6,398	888
Sri Lanka	1,389	1:14,981	2,125
Ethiopia	1,288	1:75,735	7,282
Ecuador	1,230	1:12,932	2,023
Nigeria	1,159	1:152,841	9,661
Pakistan	1,139	1:156,843	4,191
South Korea	1,040	1:49,269	142
Dominican Republic	994	1:10,496	856
Tonga	946	1:113	19
Ghana	831	1:32,516	3,831
Costa Rica	764	1:6,257	422
Morocco	716	1:48,151	7,863
Norway	705	1:7,294	747
Scotland	699	1:7,659	1,163
Belgium	697	1:16,494	2,527
Mali	645	1:26,309	898
Switzerland	638	1:12,873	2,132
Togo	630	1:11,504	2,968
Denmark	603	1:9,361	867
Ireland	586	1:8,036	1,133
South Africa	583	1:92,929	11,362
Portugal	538	1:19,365	1,372
Samoa	528	1:367	84
Mexico	511	1:242,908	6,058
Azerbaijan	510	1:18,920	1,250
Argentina	502	1:85,146	7,203
Saudi Arabia	437	1:70,608	10,708
Vanuatu	433	1:608	126
Belize	418	1:850	188
Qatar	418	1:5,641	584
Austria	411	1:20,719	3,234
Chad	385	1:35,304	4,109
Finland	385	1:14,277	2,119
Estonia	326	1:4,055	361
Chile	322	1:54,710	2,408
Venezuela	314	1:96,191	3,588
Cuba	305	1:37,779	1,746
Wales	304	1:10,179	1,126
Kuwait	299	1:12,711	1,729
French Polynesia	295	1:952	100
Brunei	279	1:1,501	296
Greece	277	1:39,999	6,427
Turkmenistan	269	1:20,406	572
Lithuania	255	1:11,900	2,147
Fiji	251	1:3,563	644
Tajikistan	234	1:35,841	1,427
Panama	231	1:16,936	1,214
Jamaica	216	1:13,287	1,325
Somalia	196	1:68,633	2,887
Hungary	175	1:56,093	5,907
Northern Ireland	158	1:11,677	1,751
Bahrain	147	1:9,174	1,687
Guam	136	1:1,177	173
Luxembourg	126	1:4,607	639
Moldova	115	1:30,968	4,946
Malta	114	1:3,774	265
Georgia	104	1:36,015	5,241
Poland	98	1:387,844	42,215
Armenia	84	1:34,883	1,966
Mongolia	84	1:33,634	3,197
Israel	82	1:104,361	11,903
Congo	79	1:63,153	5,612
American Samoa	69	1:808	86
Trinidad and Tobago	64	1:21,312	2,442
Transnistria	62	1:7,656	1,492
Cyprus	61	1:14,506	1,654
Oman	60	1:61,466	2,809
Guyana	58	1:13,142	1,824
Aruba	55	1:1,881	275
Honduras	54	1:163,267	2,049
DR Congo	48	1:1,539,158	86,567
Slovenia	44	1:56,538	8,862
Burkina Faso	43	1:426,793	6,388
Iraq	42	1:833,849	11,429
Bermuda	36	1:1,813	302
Czechia	36	1:295,374	37,799
Laos	36	1:183,009	198
Barbados	33	1:8,711	713
Botswana	33	1:66,271	11,607
Turkey	33	1:2,358,225	75,877
Niger	29	1:661,794	16,082
Romania	29	1:692,340	47,921
Nepal	26	1:1,095,421	6,297
Iceland	25	1:15,204	1,298
Libya	25	1:249,759	1,033
Sudan	25	1:1,500,408	3,610
Cameroon	23	1:903,003	60,285
Seychelles	23	1:4,017	661
Tunisia	22	1:27,756	4,198
Monaco	20	1:1,853	73
Senegal	19	1:767,334	2,735
Antigua and Barbuda	18	1:5,510	685
Colombia	17	1:2,810,240	14,126
Isle of Man	17	1:5,048	1,065
Eritrea	16	1:296,994	232
Tanzania	16	1:3,308,851	50,463
Uganda	16	1:2,439,955	72,451
Curaçao	14	1:11,232	389
Northern Mariana Islands	14	1:3,899	389
Paraguay	13	1:556,673	7,036
Bulgaria	12	1:581,575	24,486
El Salvador	11	1:576,717	3,120
Slovakia	11	1:485,132	57,527
Uruguay	11	1:311,978	20,848
Abkhazia	10	1:24,286	2,078
Albania	10	1:291,406	15,585
Algeria	10	1:3,863,155	47,113
Afghanistan	9	1:3,572,576	20,130
Bahamas	9	1:43,528	797
East Timor	9	1:135,103	179
Kenya	9	1:5,131,100	45,516
Swaziland	9	1:144,244	719
Saint Martin	8	1:4,394	114
Syria	8	1:2,412,628	10,757
Niue	7	1:231	55
Papua New Guinea	7	1:1,164,817	109,517
Namibia	6	1:401,567	10,578
Zambia	6	1:2,641,654	34,188
Croatia	5	1:845,721	48,179
Guatemala	5	1:3,216,534	7,141
Mauritania	5	1:818,973	23,459
Yemen	5	1:5,285,059	21,214
Anguilla	4	1:3,359	324
Benin	4	1:2,583,900	73,293
Burundi	4	1:2,451,213	1,279
Central African Republic	4	1:1,128,848	387
Equatorial Guinea	4	1:283,918	487
Gabon	4	1:472,298	3,618
Guinea-Bissau	4	1:432,005	185
Ivory Coast	4	1:5,767,808	55,416
North Macedonia	4	1:525,368	20,918
Mozambique	4	1:6,815,392	4,272
New Caledonia	4	1:69,056	6,678
Rwanda	4	1:2,841,244	3,611
Faroe Islands	3	1:16,333	1,308
Jersey	3	1:33,067	4,675
Nicaragua	3	1:2,007,030	6,490
Bosnia and Herzegovina	2	1:1,768,201	16,841
British Virgin Islands	2	1:15,797	839
Cape Verde	2	1:264,821	5,214
Cayman Islands	2	1:31,946	1,715
Cook Islands	2	1:9,090	1,387
Dominica	2	1:37,946	685
Haiti	2	1:5,341,954	21,336
Iran	2	1:38,391,262	236,033
Micronesia	2	1:53,122	1,264
Puerto Rico	2	1:1,775,070	6,602
Saint Lucia	2	1:89,390	2,918
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2	1:56,330	1,327
Andorra	1	1:83,838	2,381
Bhutan	1	1:616,039	1,715
Bolivia	1	1:10,616,434	17,077
Djibouti	1	1:914,932	1,612
Falkland Islands	1	1:3,132	317
Gibraltar	1	1:33,954	1,660
Greenland	1	1:56,379	1,133
Guinea	1	1:11,833,817	3,268
Jordan	1	1:8,842,437	26,010
Lebanon	1	1:5,637,083	32,436
Lesotho	1	1:2,032,558	23,402
Liechtenstein	1	1:38,378	1,726
Malawi	1	1:17,119,109	34,144
Maldives	1	1:404,172	7,269
Montenegro	1	1:639,565	9,092
São Tomé and Príncipe	1	1:177,423	3,686
Serbia	1	1:7,144,948	38,459
Sierra Leone	1	1:7,089,631	1,533
Solomon Islands	1	1:580,029	22,243
United States Virgin Islands	1	1:110,375	6,934
Zimbabwe	1	1:15,438,240	133,260

Show All Nations

Place	Incidence	Frequency	Rank in Area
England	1	1:24,375,369	195,128

Place	Incidence	Frequency	Rank in Area
United States	89	1:564,255	38,527

The alternate forms: Lí (5) & Lī (1) are calculated separately.

Li (13,166,162) may also be a first name.

Li Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? ^{meaning and history}

(Chinese) One who lived near a plum tree.

— Dictionary of American Family Names (1956) by Elsdon Coles Smith

User-submitted Reference

Chinese : from a character meaning 'minister'. This was part of the title of Gao Yao, a great-grandson of the legendary emperor Zhuan Xu, who became famous as a minister under the model emperors Yao and Shun in the 23rd century bc; he was the first to introduce laws for the repression of crime. His descendants adopted this part of his title as their surname. The use of this name continued for over a millennium to the twelfth century bc, down to the rule of the last king of the Shang dynasty, the despotic Zhou Xin. Li Zhi, the head of the Li clan at that time, displeased Zhou Xin and was executed, leaving the rest of the clan facing imminent disaster. They fled, and nearly starved to death, surviving only by eating a fruit called mu zi. When the characters for mu and zi are combined, they form the character for plum, pronounced Li. In token of this salvation, the clan changed their name to the current character for li 'plum'. Li is now the most common surname in China. Among the many famous bearers are Lee Kwan Yew, prime minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990; Lee Teng-hui, president of Taiwan from 1988; Li Peng, prime minister of China from 1988; and Bruce Lee (1941–73), movie actor. Chinese : from the name of a state of Li (in present-day Shanxi province), which existed during the Shang dynasty (1766–1122 bc). Descendants of the state's rulers adopted the name of the state as their surname. Chinese : this character for Li is an altered form of 1 above. Norwegian: habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads named Li, from Old Norse hlíð 'mountain slope', 'hillside'.

- sgalavendo708bce

The name "Li" in Chinese means "plumtree". The brushstrokes are the word "wood" on top of the word "child". My father told us kids that it was in memory of a time hundreds of years ago when the family (and various faithful servants and retainers) were in exile in a wilderness with no food. The exiles came across a plumtree grove which saved their lives. In gratitude, the family and all the servants and retainers took "plumtree" as their surname. (I understand that the original surname was also pronounced "li" but had a different meaning.)

- byl

Some Korean Yi families trace their origins back to China. The founder of the Choson Kingdom, or Yi Dynasty, Yi Song-gye, was a member of the Yi clan from Chonju. This clan ruled the Korean peninsula from 1392 to 1910. Chinese: from an area named Yi, probably from Yi county in Hebei province.

- watermelon101

Bearers of the Chinese Li and Lee surnames may be descendants of the Tang royal dynasty, though it appears the name has been adopted by many others. The Chinese character means 'minister'.

- issacrf123

The Chinese surname, Lee/Li, means 'plum' or 'plum tree' and share the same character. The Korean and Vietnamese variations -- Yi, Rhee, and Ri -- may have Chinese origin.

- loucust

The surname Lee or LI means 'plum tree' in Chinese and was the royal surname during the Tang Dynasty.

- sarahl24

This is a common Chinese surname that means 'numerous'.

- elliechansan

DNA test information

Li Demographics

Average Li Salary in
United States

$46,952^USD

Per year

Rank:

509,969 of 1,180,305

Percentage of all salaries earned by bearers:

0.0243151

Rank: 448 of 1,181,369

Percentage of national average salary:

108.81%

Sample size: 44,167 (2014)

Average Salary in
United States

$43,149^USD

Per year

Per month:

$3,596^USD

Per week:

$799^USD

Per day:

$118^USD

View the highest/lowest earning families in The United States

Li Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Li Come From? ^{nationality or country of origin}

The last name Li (Bengali: লী, Georgian: ლი, Hassaniya-Arabic: ﻟﻲ, Hindi: अली, Marathi: ली, Oriya: ଲି, Russian: Ли, Tibetan: ལི་) is found most in China. It can also appear in the variant forms: Lí or Lī. Click here for other potential spellings of this surname.

How Common Is The Last Name Li? ^{popularity and diffusion}

Li is the 2^nd most frequent family name worldwide. It is borne by around 1 in 69 people. It is mostly found in Asia, where 100 percent of Li live; 99 percent live in East Asia and 99 percent live in Sino-East Asia. It is also the 14^th most frequently occurring given name internationally, borne by 13,166,162 people.

This last name is most commonly used in China, where it is carried by 102,565,454 people, or 1 in 13. Excluding China Li exists in 209 countries. It is also found in Taiwan, where 1 percent reside and Hong Kong, where 0 percent reside.

Li Family Population Trend ^{historical fluctuation}

The frequency of Li has changed over time. In The United States the number of people who held the Li surname grew 118,275 percent between 1880 and 2014 and in England it grew 1,065,100 percent between 1881 and 2014.

Li Last Name Statistics ^demography

The religious devotion of those bearing the Li surname is principally Orthodox (70%) in Russia, Orthodox (82%) in Belarus, Orthodox (66%) in Kazakhstan, Orthodox (88%) in Kyrgyzstan, Christian (89%) in Nigeria, Orthodox (80%) in Ukraine and Orthodox (88%) in Uzbekistan.

In The United States Li are 15.94% more likely to be registered Democrats than the national average, with 69.17% being registered to vote for the party.

The amount Li earn in different countries varies greatly. In Italy they earn 16.33% less than the national average, earning €25,127 per year; in Norway they earn 1.48% less than the national average, earning 340,971 kr per year; in Peru they earn 54.49% more than the national average, earning S/. 29,948 per year; in South Africa they earn 65.76% more than the national average, earning R 393,912 per year; in Colombia they earn 114.04% more than the national average, earning $48,591,600 COP per year; in Vietnam they earn 24.3% more than the national average, earning 102,473,000 ₫ per year; in United States they earn 8.81% more than the national average, earning $46,952 USD per year and in Canada they earn 8.59% more than the national average, earning $53,950 CAD per year.

Phonetically Similar Names

Surname	Similarity	Worldwide Incidence	Prevalency
Lí	83	5	/
Lī	83	1	/
Lei	80	3,739,001	/
Lai	80	3,581,809	/
Lui	80	99,152	/
Lis	80	91,537	/
Lie	80	50,006	/
Loi	80	38,016	/
Lia	80	35,092	/
Lio	80	11,281	/
Liz	80	7,308	/
Lit	80	3,489	/
Lip	80	3,340	/
Lid	80	1,974	/
Lii	80	1,162	/
Lih	80	1,158	/
Lli	80	1,018	/
Liß	80	919	/
Liy	80	604	/
Lhi	80	91	/
Lyi	80	86	/
Lij	80	43	/
Hli	80	30	/
Lgi	80	2	/
Liṓ	80	1	/
Lại	80	1	/
Lợi	80	1	/
Liù	80	1	/
Liǔ	80	1	/
Léi	80	1	/
Luis	67	195,165	/
Laia	67	68,824	/
Luiz	67	38,432	/
List	67	20,502	/
Lipp	67	16,353	/
Leis	67	14,460	/
Liss	67	10,385	/
Lois	67	10,100	/
Laid	67	9,678	/
Lais	67	6,283	/
Litt	67	4,869	/
Laiz	67	2,346	/
Lish	67	2,282	/
Lich	67	2,169	/
Lait	67	2,164	/
Leid	67	1,469	/
Loit	67	1,426	/
Leiß	67	1,367	/
Lihe	67	1,009	/
Lioy	67	978	/
Liea	67	767	/
Leit	67	649	/
Lihs	67	605	/
Laij	67	525	/
Luit	67	479	/
Loiz	67	379	/
Leip	67	334	/
Leih	67	321	/
Loid	67	291	/
Leiz	67	289	/
Laip	67	266	/
Hlei	67	205	/
Liey	67	204	/
Leij	67	204	/
Luij	67	203	/
Hliš	67	186	/
Laai	67	165	/
Luih	67	124	/
Liaj	67	119	/
Lieh	67	110	/
Liai	67	101	/
Laih	67	94	/
Liay	67	82	/
Lidh	67	75	/
Luid	67	74	/
Llie	67	70	/
Liht	67	68	/
Laić	67	68	/
Lidd	67	61	/
Hlai	67	53	/
Liaa	67	49	/
Lisø	67	45	/
Lyai	67	44	/
Hloi	67	44	/
Lipf	67	43	/
Loij	67	35	/
Lhai	67	33	/
Lije	67	33	/
Lizz	67	33	/
Llis	67	32	/
Laiç	67	31	/
Hlii	67	28	/
Loiš	67	25	/
Hlis	67	24	/
Laiy	67	22	/
Lloi	67	21	/
Hlli	67	20	/
Lyui	67	16	/
Lioa	67	15	/
Leiš	67	14	/
Lisd	67	13	/
Lidt	67	11	/
Lizt	67	11	/
Glie	67	11	/
Llui	67	10	/
Llia	67	8	/
Hlia	67	8	/
Lioj	67	8	/
Lhis	67	7	/
Lhoi	67	7	/
Luip	67	7	/
Lisp	67	7	/
Høli	67	7	/
Leić	67	6	/
Lhie	67	6	/
Luič	67	6	/
Liuy	67	5	/
Llai	67	5	/
Luui	67	5	/
Llyi	67	5	/
Liui	67	5	/
L'Li	67	5	/
Lgai	67	5	/
Llii	67	4	/
Lhui	67	4	/
Leiy	67	4	/
Llhi	67	4	/
L'Id	67	3	/
Hlui	67	3	/
Llio	67	3	/
Løie	67	3	/
Láiz	67	3	/
Lliy	67	3	/
Luiy	67	2	/
Litp	67	2	/
Llit	67	2	/
Lhei	67	2	/
Hlid	67	2	/
Liås	67	2	/
Léis	67	2	/
Liph	67	2	/
Hlit	67	2	/
Lhio	67	2	/
Lhyi	67	2	/
Llei	67	2	/
Lihh	67	1	/
Llih	67	1	/
Lhli	67	1	/
L'Ai	67	1	/
Loip	67	1	/
Litd	67	1	/
Loič	67	1	/
Lißt	67	1	/
Légi	67	1	/
Hlie	67	1	/
Hlip	67	1	/
Leiś	67	1	/
L'Ip	67	1	/
Lhip	67	1	/
Lidø	67	1	/
Lidė	67	1	/
Liej	67	1	/
Ålia	67	1	/
Lisj	67	1	/
Lhid	67	1	/
Liuj	67	1	/
Llip	67	1	/
Lhih	67	1	/
Lidp	67	1	/
Lijt	67	1	/
Hlyi	67	1	/
Hlhi	67	1	/
Hliy	67	1	/
Lhiz	67	0	/

Show All Similar Surnames

Li Name Transliterations

Transliteration	ICU Latin	Percentage of Incidence
Li in the Georgian language
ლი	li	-
Li in the Hassaniya-Arabic language
ﻟﻲ	ly	-
Li in the Tibetan language
ལི་	li	-
Li in the Marathi language
ली	li	99.1
ळी	li	0.9
Show All Transliterations
Li in the Oriya language
ଲି	li	71.43
ଲୀ	li	14.29
ଳି	li	14.29
Li in the Hindi language
अली	ali	56.64
ली	li	39.58
लि	li	1.43
्ली	li	0.1
ळि	li	0.05
ली़	li	0.05
बी	bi	0.05
Show All Transliterations
Li in the Bengali language
লী	li	55.56
লি	li	44.44
Li in the Russian language
Ли	li	-

Search for Another Surname

Li Reference & Research

Li DNA Website - A web page dedicated to the genetic research of those who bear the surname and its variants.

Li FamilyTree DNA Project - A description of a group researching the paternal lines of men who bear the surname with the help of DNA analysis.

The name statistics are still in development, sign up for information on more maps and data

Footnotes

Surnames are taken as the first part of an person's inherited family name, caste, clan name or in some cases patronymic
Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Li
To find out more about this surname's family history, lookup records on FamilySearch, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and Ancestry. Further information may be obtained by DNA analysis

Li Surname

Li Surname Definition:

Li Surname Distribution Map

Li Surname Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

User-submitted Reference

Li Demographics

$46,952 USD

Per year

$43,149 USD

Per year

Li Last Name Facts

Where Does The Last Name Li Come From? nationality or country of origin

How Common Is The Last Name Li? popularity and diffusion

Li Family Population Trend historical fluctuation

Li Last Name Statistics demography

Phonetically Similar Names

Li Name Transliterations

Search for Another Surname

Li Reference & Research

Footnotes

From Where Does The Surname Originate? ^{meaning and history}

$46,952^USD

$43,149^USD

Where Does The Last Name Li Come From? ^{nationality or country of origin}

How Common Is The Last Name Li? ^{popularity and diffusion}

Li Family Population Trend ^{historical fluctuation}

Li Last Name Statistics ^demography