吳

Original meaning is “to make a loud cry,” “to shout,” “clamor.”

Interpreted as:

口 (“mouth”) — semantic: to speak, to cry out.

夨/呉 — right-side component, giving the phonetic value.

Thus, historically the character described a loud utterance or cry, which later became the surname.

《說文解字》 (Shuowen Jiezi):

「吳，大呼也。」

“吳 means ‘to cry out loudly.’”

《廣雅》 (Guangya):

「吳，叫也。」

“‘吳’ means ‘to shout loudly.’”

Not many—used almost exclusively as a surname.

오나라 (吳國) — the State of Wu (Spring and Autumn / Warring States / Three Kingdoms of China)

오월 (吳越) — Wu and Yue

오상 (吳商) — merchants of Wu (classical)

Despite 吳 and 呉 being historically distinct, Japan merged them into the simpler 呉.

In China, 吳 is traditional; 吴 is simplified, but in meaning they function identically as a surname.

The ancient State of Wu (吳) played a major role in Chinese cultural history (e.g., swordsmithing, Wu dialects).

The surname is extremely common in:

China (top 10–15)

Taiwan

Korea (“Oh”)

Vietnam (“Ngô”)

Classical citations:

《史記·吳太伯世家》 (Records of the Grand Historian)

「吳者，太伯之後也。」

“Wu denotes the descendants of Taibo.”

吴 (U+543E) — Modern PRC simplification (but represents different character historically; sometimes mixed)

呉 (U+5449) — Japanese shinjitai form