Chao

Chao or similar sounding câo, cháo, cháo, čhao, chau, ciao, jao, may refer to:

Cambodia

Chad

Chile

China

Italy

Japan

Peru

Portugal

Spain and Latin America

Chao (monarchy)

Chao (Thai: เจ้า) is a title of the Lannathai royal family members.

Chao Har Kan

Chao Har Kan (เจ้าห้าขัน, lit: Five lords) is the style for the high rank royalty in each Lannathai states.

After the fall of the absolute monarchy, the Chao har kan system was abolished by the People's Party (Khana Ratsadon - คณะราษฎร). In present days, all of the "Chao" family used "na Chiangmai", "na Lamphun" and "na Lampang" as their surname.

Zhao (surname)

Zhao (/dʒaʊ/), Chao or Chiu (simplified Chinese: 赵; traditional Chinese: 趙; pinyin: Zhào; Wade–Giles: Chao, Vietnamese: Triệu, Hangul: 조) is a common Chinese family name, ranking as the 7th most common surname in Mainland China and carried mainly by people of Mandarin-speaking regions. Zhao is the 1st surname in the famous Hundred Family Surnames – the traditional list of all Chinese surnames – because it was the royal surname of the Song Dynasty (960–1279) when the list was compiled.

On occasion, Zhao can denote the much less common family name Zhào (兆).

History

Zhao is one of the most ancient of Chinese surnames, and its origins are partly shrouded in legend. During the reign of King Mu of Zhou (976/956 BC – 922/918 BC), an officer named Zaofu (Chinese: 造父) proved exceptionally adept at training horses and driving chariots and won the respect of King Mu. During a battle with the eastern state of Xu, a non-Chinese state which was resisting Zhou rule, Zaofu drove a chariot into the battle and escorted King Mu back to the Zhou capital. In gratitude, King Mu enfeoffed Zaofu as the lord of Zhao, a town in what is now Hongdong County, Shanxi Province, to be held by his descendants in perpetuity. Zaofu's descendants took Zhao as a surname to mark their prestigious association with the city. Records such as Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian say that Zaofu was a descendant of legendary kings Zhuanxu, Shaohao, and the Yellow Emperor.