Mi is the pinyin romanisation of various Chinese surnames, including 麋, 米, 禰, and others.
The Mǐ (芈) were the royal house of the states of Chu and Yue during the later Zhou dynasty. They claimed descent from Zhuanxu via his grandson Jilian, whom they credited with founding their dynasty. The Chu Lexicon at the University of Massachusetts conjectures that it was a native Chu word whose meaning was "bear", explaining the cadet members of the family recorded with the surname Xiong (Chinese: "bear").
Some of the Pans (潘) of China come from a cadet branch of the family, descended from Pan Chong of the Chu line.