Gao (surname)

Gao
Stroke order of the Gao surname
Pronunciation	Gāo (Pinyin) Ko (Pe̍h-ōe-jī) Gou1 (Jyutping)
Language(s)	Chinese
Origin
Language(s)	Old Chinese
Meaning	high, tall
Other names
Variant(s)	Gao, Kao (Mandarin) Ko, Kou (Cantonese, Hokkien)
Derivative(s)	Cao, Ko

Gao (Chinese: ) is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin that can be literally translated as "high" or "tall". There are approximately 16 million living people with this surname. Some places, such as Taiwan, usually romanise this family name into Kao. In Hong Kong, it is romanized to Ko. In Macau, it is romanized to Kou.

According to Lüshi Chunqiu, the earliest figure with the Gao surname was Gao Yuan (高元) who created dwellings in antiquity. The grandson of the Yellow Emperor Zhuanxu was also known as Gao Yang (高陽).

Another origin of Gao is the Jiang (姜) surname. According to the Song dynasty encyclopedia Tongzhi, an early ancestor was Gao Xi (高傒) who was granted the surname Gao in honour of his grandfather Prince Gao (公子高). Prince Gao was the son of Duke Wen of the state of Qi whose ancestral name was Jiang (姜).

Many non-Han Chinese used the surname Gao: