MO

Chinese 莫: from the name of a place called Mo City (莫), said to have been founded by Zhuan Xu, legendary emperor who lived in the 26th century BC. The current Chinese character for Mo replaces another, rare or obsolete character. Another source of this name was a government post called Mo’ao, which existed during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 BC) in the state of Chu. Descendants of a holder of the post adopted the first character of the title as their surname.