The Chinese have more than 11,000 surnames but only some 1,000 are still in used, according to experts.
Apart from the 100 common surnames such as Wang, Li Zhang, Liu, Chen, Huang and Lin; many rare family names still exit in current days. Ji (Chicken), Si (die), Zhang (dirty), Niao (urine) and Shi (dead body) are among the oddest.
These surnames have resulted in them being laughed at or getting them into trouble.
Recently, a father - surnamed Ji – claimed that he was having a hard time naming his child.
He posted an article on a social networking site in China, seeking the netizens' help to find a good name for the baby.
His posting "My surname is Ji, how should I name my child?" got tremendous response from the public but none of the replies were helpful.
Those who replied made fun of the surname by suggesting names like Ji Dan (egg), Ji Jian (sodomy), Ji Dipi (GDP), Ji Deken (the reverse of Kentucky), Ji Luoyou (butt) and Ji Tou (head).
One of those who posted responses, Zhang La said he has a friend who named Si Jun (died soldier).
"The surname has landed him in many troubles. Because of this, Si Jun has always wanted to change his family name but such a move was objected by his family."
According to the China's Book of Surnames, Ji is a unique surname that originated from the Zhuang minority tribe.
The province of Guangxi has the biggest Ji clan with over 1,000 people.
Si is the second rarest family name and most of the clan live in the Northwest of China.
