Ao (turtle)

Ao (Chinese: 鳌, Áo) is a large marine turtle in Chinese mythology. He was thought to have lived in the South China Sea during the time of the formation of the world. When the goddess Nüwa, creator of mankind, was repairing the sky after a disaster, she chopped off Ao’s four legs and used them as supports.

Another myth claims that Ao still lives and resides in the Bohai Sea, where he carries the three islands of the Eight Immortals (Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou) upon his back.

He is thought to have been an influence on the later half-dragon, half-turtle figure of Bixi in imperial Chinese sculpture. Bixi was considered a son of the Dragon King who was able to carry enormous weights upon his back; figures of the dragon-turtle bearing memorial stelae are common monuments throughout East Asia.

In toponymy

While place names using the word gui ("turtle") are ubiquitous throughout China (typically referring to a turtle-shaped hill, gui shan), place names referring to an ao are more characteristic of China's southeastern coast (Zhejiang to Guangdong). This includes the Ao River (Aojiang) in southern Zhejiang, with the town of Aojiang on its northern shore, as well as the Liu'ao ("Six ao") peninsula in southern Fujian.

Ou (surname)

Ou is the pinyin romanization of the Chinese surnames 區 and 歐, which share a common origin with the compound surname Ouyang (歐陽), from the ruling family of the State of Yue during the Spring and Autumn period. They are commonly romanized as Au or Ao in Cantonese.

Ou 欧 is listed 361st in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames. As of 2008, Ou 欧 is the 134th most common surname in China, shared by 1.13 million people.

Distribution

Ou was the 27,293th most common surname in the United States during the 1990 census and the 11,845th most common surname during the 2000 census. Au ranked 11,417th and 5,195th, and Ao ranked 88,459th and 58,402nd.

Origins

The Ou (區) and Ouyang are considered to both descend from the ruling family of the state of Yue during the Spring and Autumn Period.

Many Ou have their ancestral roots in the Longgang, Zhongshan, Shunde, Panyu, and Xinhui areas of Guangdong.

List of persons with the surname

See also

List of Latin-script trigraphs

A number of trigraphs are found in the Latin script, most of these used especially in Irish orthography.

A

⟨aai⟩ is used in Dutch to write the sound /aːi̯/.

⟨abh⟩ is used in Irish to write the sound /əu̯/, or in Donegal, /oː/, between broad consonants.

⟨adh⟩ is used in Irish to write the sound /əi̯/, or in Donegal, /eː/, between broad consonants, or an unstressed /ə/ at the end of a word.

⟨aei⟩ is used in Irish to write the sound /eː/ between a broad and a slender consonant.

⟨agh⟩ is used in Irish to write the sound /əi̯/, or in Donegal, /eː/, between broad consonants.

⟨aim⟩ is used in French to write the sound /ɛ̃/ (/ɛm/ before a vowel).

⟨ain⟩ is used in French to write the sound /ɛ̃/ (/ɛn/ before a vowel). It also represents /ɛ̃/ in Tibetan Pinyin, where it is alternatively written än.

⟨aío⟩ is used in Irish to write the sound /iː/ between broad consonants.

⟨amh⟩ is used in Irish to write the sound /əu̯/, or in Donegal, /oː/, between broad consonants.