Looi is a surname.
Origins
Like many other similarly-spelled surnames (
Lui
''Lui'' (; ) is a French adult-entertainment magazine created in November 1963 by Daniel Filipacchi, a fashion photographer turned publisher, Jacques Lanzmann, a jack of all trades turned novelist, and Frank Ténot, a press agent, pataphys ...
,
Loi
Loi is the word in the Meitei language (Meiteilon) for the term " scheduled caste". The term ''Loi'' is given to the indigenous and aboriginal people of Manipur in northeast India who refused to adopt Hinduism or were semi-Hinduised when the n ...
,
Louie Louie may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Louie'' (American TV series), comedy drama television series created by and starring comedian Louis C.K.
* ''Louie'' (French TV series), animated series about a young rabbit who draws pictures which ...
, etc.), it can originate from either of two
Chinese surnames
Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the W ...
which are almost homophonous in
Cantonese
Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
, though pronounced distinctly in
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
:
*
Léi (), meaning "thunder" (). The spelling Looi might also originate from its pronunciation in various
Southern Min
Southern Min (), Minnan ( Mandarin pronunciation: ) or Banlam (), is a group of linguistically similar and historically related Chinese languages that form a branch of Min Chinese spoken in Fujian (especially the Minnan region), most of Taiwa ...
dialects, e.g.
Hokkien
Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...
() or
Chaoshan
Chaoshan or Teoswa ( zh, s=潮汕, p=Cháoshàn, cy=Chìusaan; peng'im: ) is a cultural-linguistic region in the east of Guangdong, China. It is the origin of the Teochew Min language. The region, also known as Chiushan in Cantonese, consists of ...
(
Peng'im
( zh, s=潮州话拼音方案, t=潮州話拼音方案: ( Teochew) ( Swatow), : or , : or ) is a Teochew dialect romanization system as a part of Guangdong Romanization published by Guangdong Provincial Education Department in 1960. The ...
: ).
*
Lǚ (), a
toponymic surname
A toponymic surname or habitational surname or byname is a surname or byname derived from a place name, from the ancient
state of Lü
State most commonly refers to:
* State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory
**Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country
**Nation state, a ...
(; note the differing
tone
Tone may refer to:
Visual arts and color-related
* Tone (color theory), a mix of tint and shade, in painting and color theory
* Tone (color), the lightness or brightness (as well as darkness) of a color
* Toning (coin), color change in coins
* ...
). The pronunciation in other
varieties of Chinese
There are hundreds of local Chinese language varieties forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language family, many of which are not Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the m ...
is not similar to the surname meaning "thunder".
As a
Dutch surname
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
, Looi originated both as shortened version of van de Looi with the ''
tussenvoegsel
In a Dutch name, a (; ) is a family name affix positioned between a person's given name and the main part of their family name. There are similar concepts in many languages, such as Celtic family name prefixes, French particles, and the Germa ...
s'' dropped, and as a
patronymic surname
A patronymic surname is a surname originated from the given name of the father or a patrilineal ancestor. Different cultures have different ways of producing patronymic
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based o ...
derived from the given name Looi. That given name is a regional
hypocorism
A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek ; sometimes also ''hypocoristic''), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for Isabel or ''Bob (given name), Bob'' fo ...
of various other given names: it may be short for
Ludolf Ludolf is a Germanic surname or given name. It is derived from two stems: Hlud meaning "fame" and olf meaning "wolf". An alternate spelling of the name is Ludolph. People with the name include:
* George Philipp Ludolf von Beckedorff (1778-1858), pr ...
, or for
Lodewijk
Lodewijk () is the Dutch name for Louis. In specific it may refer to:
Given name Literature
* Lodewijk Hartog van Banda (1916–2006), Dutch comic strip writer
* Lodewijk Paul Aalbrecht Boon, (1912–1979) Flemish writer
* Lodewijk van De ...
in
Groningen
Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...
and the
southern Netherlands
The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the ...
, or for
Eligius in
Friesland
Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...
. Alternative spellings include
Looij.
Statistics
In the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, 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.
People
People with the surname Looi include:
*
Looi Loon Teik
Looi Loon Teik (; born 15 February 1945) is a Malaysian former footballer. Loon Teik represented Kedah FA in the 1970s and early 1980s during his football career. He also played for the Malaysia national team. He competed in the men's tournamen ...
(; born 1945), Malaysian footballer
*
Beatrice Looi (; 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
Tom van de Looi (born 2 July 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga Portugal club Famalicão. His father is football manager and former footballer Erwin van de Looi.
Club career
On 14 August 2019 he jo ...
(born 1999), Dutch football midfielder
See also
*
Van Looy, also a Dutch surname
References
{{surname
Chinese-language surnames
Multiple Chinese surnames
Cantonese-language surnames