make up almost three-fourths (2009) of Singapore's resident population of nearly four million (2011). 2000 According to Statistics Singapore, as of the year 2000, the most common Chinese Singaporean names were: As most Singaporeans of Chinese descent have ancestors which originated from Southern China, mainly from Fujian, Guangdong and Hainan, the distribution of surnames in Singapore is quite different from that of Mainland China. As there are a variety of dialect groups in Singapore, the same surname in Chinese characters may be romanised in several different ways in Singapore. Some less common Chinese transcriptions of the 20 most common romanised surnames may not be listed in the table above. Newer version There is a newer list of most common surnames in Singapore from an unknown year. Some numbers are missing as the original list contains several non-Chinese surnames, which have been excluded from the table below. Thailand The largest Chinese diaspora community in the world are the Chinese Thais (or Sino-Thais), who make up 12–14% of the total Thai population. However, very few of the Chinese Thais have Chinese surnames, after the 1913 Surname Act that required the adoption of Thai surnames in order to enjoy Thai citizenship. Moreover, the same law requires that those possessing the same surname be related, meaning that immigrant Chinese may not adopt the surname of their clansmen unless they can show actual kinship. United States The 2010 US Census found 3,794,673 self-identified Chinese Americans and 230,382 self-identified Taiwanese Americans, up from 2,734,841 Chinese Americans and 144,795 Taiwanese Americans in 2000. Although the Chinese make up the largest segment of the U.S. Asian and Pacific Islander population, the most common Chinese-derived surname during the 2000 census was not itself Chinese but the Vietnamese Nguyễn (Chinese: , Ruǎn). During the 2000 census, the 10 most common Chinese American names were: Other surveys 2002: study by Matthew Falkenstein, data-mining the 2000 US Census for a particularly Asian & Pacific Islander name list, omitting those like Lee that are common among other ethnicities 2000: study by Diane Lauderdale, et al., data-mining Social Security card applications by persons born abroad before 1941 for a particularly Chinese-American name list See also Notes References External links Lin Yutang's Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage, hosted at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. (~700 surnames) Netor's Ten-Thousand Families 人口排序 [China's Surname Population Rankings], lists of the most popular surnames under the Song, Yuan,