Zhao surname meaning

Zhao is the Mandarin Romanization of the Chinese surname 趙 (simplified 赵). Its principal origin is the Zhao fief granted to the charioteer Zaofu under King Mu of Zhou and later the Warring States polity of Zhao in Shanxi; descendants took the place-name as a clan name. The character once meant “walk quickly,” but the surname is habitational rather than occupational. Wade–Giles Chao, Cantonese Chiu/Chew, and Vietnamese Triệu are the same lineage in other spellings. Zhao heads the traditional Hundred Family Surnames because it was the Song imperial surname. Place is high confidence for the dominant 趙 stream.