Lai (traditional Chinese: 賴; simplified Chinese: 赖; pinyin: Lài) is a common Chinese surname that is pronounced similarly in both Mandarin and Hakka dialects. The meaning of the character used in the Lai (賴) surname is "depend on; trust in; rely on". Conversely the words, 無賴 literally translated to "without Lai" which means "undependable, rascal or scoundrel".

It is also a Hokkien (Southern Fujian)/ Minnan (Southern Min) surname that is romanized as Lua, Nai or Nua. In Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and other parts of South East Asia there are Lai migrants from southern Fujian Province who are usually surnamed Lua/ Luah, Loa (romanized from Hokkien / Minnan in Southern Min dialect) or Lye (romanized from Hakka dialect) for the Hakka dialect groups.

In Indonesia, most of the Indonesians of Chinese descent changed their surname to an Indonesian surname to comply with 'Cabinet Presidium Decision 127 of 1966' laws during President Suharto's despotic rule. However, they usually change to surnames with the same sound or a surname which contains a part of the original surname, hence the Indonesian Lai surname has evolved into Laya, Lais, or Lasuki.

Origins

The Lais' ancestry were from the State of Lai (賴國) at the beginning of the ancient Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC). The area is now around Huangchuan County, Henan province.

Marquis Shu Ying (叔 穎 公) was the 19th son of King Wen of Zhou (widely considered to be the founder of the ancient Zhou Dynasty). He was conferred the heritable title of Hou (侯) or Marquis to rule over a territory which is approximately in the northeast of the present day Baoxin town (包信鎮) in Xi Xian (息縣) of Henan province. This was the reward from King Wu of Zhou, his elder brother (the first King of Zhou Dynasty, reign 1046–1043 BC ) for his assistance in defeating King Zhou of Shang and thereby terminating the ancient Shang dynasty. Marquis Shu Ying named his domain the State of Lai (賴國) .

Marquis Shu Ying and his succeeding descendants continued to rule the State of Lai well until the year 538 B.C for a total of 14 generations when it was conquered by King Ling of Chu (reign 540–529 BC). The last ruler was Marquis Tian (赖添公).

Many Lais were dispersed to the south during their defeat by the Chu state; some changed their surname to escape persecution. As in the case of those who fled to the neighboring states of Luo (羅) and Fu (傅), some adopted the Luo (or Loh) or Fu (or Poh, Po) surname. (Because of this, the Lai, the Fu and the Luo are closely related).

Others migrated north and settled in Da Yan (Yanling County, Henan). Most of them adopted the surname Lai (賴) to commemorate their old state.

Statistics

The largest Lai (賴) clans are in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines . Majority of the overseas Lai (賴) clans are of the Hakka people followed by the Hokkien/Minnan people.

According to 2010 data, people with surname Lai (賴) ranked 98th most populous in China. The total Lai (賴) population is approximately 0.18% or around 2.4 million people out of China's population of 1.338 billion in 2010. In Taiwan, the surname Lai (賴) is ranked 19th most populous in 2007.

Notable people surnamed Lai (賴)

As a European surname

• Ubaldo Lay (1917-1984): Italian actor (born as Ubaldo Bussa, chose his mother's surname for his stagename), notorious for playing the main character of Tenente Sheridan ("Lieutenant Sheridan") in the television series "Giallo Club. Invito al Poliziesco"
• Francis Lai (1932–2018): French composer of Sardinian descent (Ozieri),^[1] Academy and Golden Globe Award winner
• Valentino Lai (born 1984): Italian-Swedish football player from Cagliari

See also

• Lí (黎) (surname) – in Hong Kong, the Chinese surname 黎 is romanized as Lai which is a different surname.

References