The tao Surname
tao Name Meaning and History
- Chinese
: according to tradition, from Tao
Tangshi, the name of the emperor Yao (2357–2257 bc),
first of the three model emperors, before he came to power. A branch
of his descendants retained the surname Tao. Another source of this
surname is the word for ‘pottery’; this is traced back to a descendant
of the second of the three model emperors, Shun (2257–2205
bc). During the Zhou dynasty (1122–221 bc), this
descendant was in charge of the manufacture of pottery. As the
character for Tao also means ‘pottery’ and was part of his official
title, his descendants adopted Tao as their surname. - Japanese: unexplained.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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