Ma (surname)

Ma
Ma surname in regular script
Romanization	Ma, Mah, Mar (Mandarin, Cantonese) Beh/Baey (Teochew) Ma (Korean) Mã (Vietnamese) Bey(Hokkien) Ma (Korean)
Pronunciation	Mǎ (Pinyin) Má, Bé (Pe̍h-ōe-jī)
Language(s)	Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean
Origin
Language(s)	Old Chinese
Derivation	Name of a district Muhammad (name)
Meaning	"horse"

Ma (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Mǎ) is a Chinese family name. The surname literally means "horse". It is one of the most common family names in China. As of 2006, it ranks as the 14th most common Chinese surname in Mainland China and the most common surname within the Chinese Muslim community, specifically the Hui people, Dongxiang people, and Salar people.

The offspring of Zhao She adopted "Ma" (馬), the first word of the district Ma Fu, as their surname. Other romanizations include Mah, Beh and Mar.

Hui Muslims, Salars, Bonan and Dongxiang people commonly adopted Ma as the translation for their surname Muhammad. for e.g. Ma Jian, Ma Benzhai, Ma clique.

During the Ming dynasty, the Zhengde Emperor had an Uyghur concubine with the surname Ma.