Looi
| Language(s) | Chinese, Dutch |
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Looi is a surname.
Origins[edit]
Like many other similarly-spelled surnames (Lui, Loi, Louie, etc.), it can originate from either of two Chinese surnames which are almost homophonous in Cantonese, though pronounced distinctly in Mandarin:
- Léi (雷), meaning "thunder" (Jyutping: Leoi4; Cantonese Yale: Lèuih). The spelling Looi might also originate from its pronunciation in various Southern Min dialects, e.g. Hokkien (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lûi) or Chaoshan (Peng'im: Lui5).[1][2]
- Lǚ (呂), a toponymic surname from the ancient state of Lü (Jyutping: Leoi5; Cantonese Yale: Léuih; note the differing tone). The pronunciation in other varieties of Chinese is not similar to the surname meaning "thunder".[3]
As a Dutch surname, Looi originated both as shortened version of van de Looi with the tussenvoegsels dropped, and as a patronymic surname derived from the given name Looi. That given name is a regional hypocorism of various other given names: it may be short for Ludolf, or for Lodewijk in Groningen and the southern Netherlands, or for Eligius in Friesland. Alternative spellings include Looij.[4][5]
Statistics[edit]
In the Netherlands, there were nine people with the surname Looi and 35 people with the surname van de Looi as of 2007, up from three and nine respectively in 1947.[6][7]
People[edit]
People with the surname Looi include:
- Looi Loon Teik (雷隆德; born 1945), Malaysian footballer
- Beatrice Looi (吕素君; born 1967), Malaysian bridal gown designer
People with the surname van de Looi include:
- Erwin van de Looi (born 1972), Dutch football manager
- Tom van de Looi (born 1999), Dutch football midfielder
See also[edit]
- Van Looy, also a Dutch surname
References[edit]
- ^ Jones, Russel (August 1959). "Chinese Names: Notes on the use of surnames & personal names by the Chinese in Malaya". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 32 (187): 3–84. JSTOR 41505683.
- ^ Medhurst, Walter Henry (1832). A dictionary of the Hok-këèn dialect of the Chinese language, according to the reading and colloquial idioms. East India Company Press. p. 474. Fielde, Adele M. (1883). "雷". A pronouncing and defining dictionary of the Swatow dialect, arranged according to syllables and tones. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press. p. 368. Additionally see "雷". mogher.com. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- ^ See e.g. Medhurst 1832, p. 436 for the Hokkien pronunciation.
- ^ "Looij". Nederlandse Familienamenbank. Centrum voor familiegeschiedenis. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Looi". Nederlandse Voornamenbank. Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
- ^ "Looi, van de". Nederlandse Familienamenbank. Centrum voor familiegeschiedenis. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
- ^ "Looi". Nederlandse Familienamenbank. Centrum voor familiegeschiedenis. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
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