Guo

Guo is a Chinese surname written with the character 郭. It is one of the more common Chinese surnames. In romanization, it is rendered Guo in pinyin, and older systems may spell it Kuo, Kuo, or Kwo. The surname is traditionally believed to have originated from the Zhou dynasty state of Guo, with descendants adopting the state's name as their surname.

In Chinese, guó (国/國) means “country” or “nation” and is widely used in compound terms such as guójiā (国家, “state” or “nation”) and guómín (国民, “citizen”). Historically, guó was used to denote a political entity or state in the Zhou era and later periods. The surname 郭 and the noun guó are separate in origin, though they are homophonous in modern Mandarin.

Notable people with the surname include Guo Moruo (郭沫若), a 20th-century writer, historian, and poet; Guo Pu (郭璞), a Jin dynasty scholar and astrologer; and Guo Jingming (郭敬明), a contemporary writer and filmmaker. Beyond individuals, Guo also appears in various place names and as a component of given names, reflecting its dual role as both a surname and a common syllable in Chinese naming.