Let History Outlive Fear: Understanding the Roots of the Guǐ 鬼 Surname

Posted by Kathlene Go

September 18, 2025

On September 19, 2025

Since writing “Filial Piety, Not Fear: A New Perspective on Ghost Month,” I’ve been thinking a lot about that fine line between honoring loved ones and grieving their absence. Somewhere in that space lingers another emotion: fear. Fear of death, fear of spirits, fear of the unknown.

But fear can lead to avoidance. We avoid the conversation, avoid the rituals, and eventually, avoid the memory. And with avoidance comes forgetting.

I remember my grandparents—four people I always associated with unconditional love through homemade food, thoughtful gifts, and memorable time spent together. But as years pass, those memories fade.

Source: Freepik.com

So, how do we keep remembering?

In the past months of reading through Chinese Ancestry Research articles, I’ve realized something simple but profound: fear comes from not knowing. When we don’t understand, we fill the gaps with stereotypes and superstitions that only deepen our anxieties. But with knowledge, we gain clarity. We begin to recognize what we once feared, and in that recognition, the fear starts to melt away.

In Part 1, I shared how early Chinese texts did not portray Guǐ (鬼) with the terrifying ghostly connotation we often associate with it today. The Lǐjì (《禮記》), or Book of Rites—a classic text that recorded the ceremonial practices and moral philosophies of the Zhou dynasty, later compiled and interpreted through the Warring States and early Han periods—tells us, ‘the soul-breath returns to Heaven; the bodily spirit returns to Earth.’ Likewise, the Shuōwén Jiězì (《說文解字》), which is a Chinese dictionary compiled during the Eastern Han dynasty explains, ‘that to which people return becomes Guǐ 鬼.’ These words reflect reverence, not terror.”

Source: Nathan Co from Chinese Ancestry Research

This time, I learned something interesting and even more eye-opening from Chinese Ancestry Research (CAR): Guǐ 鬼 is not only a word—it is also a surname. And if there’s one lesson I’ve taken from months of reading through CAR, it’s that understanding the roots of our surnames is a powerful way to reconnect with heritage. A name is never just an identifier; it carries history, values, and stories of survival that continue to shape who we are at present.

Also Read: Why Chinese Names Matter: The Deep Meanings Behind Surnames and Given Names

The Surname Guǐ 鬼

Although seldom seen today, the Guǐ 鬼 surname reaches back nearly 4,700 years to the dawn of Chinese civilization. In its earliest sense, it carried nothing of the fearsome connotation the word later acquired. Instead, Guǐ 鬼 evoked the lingering presence of departed loved ones — especially protective mothers — honored as guardians watching over the living. In today’s terms, the closest word might be “soul.”

Unlike guài (怪), which described monstrous or inhuman beings, Guǐ 鬼 symbolized lineage, protection, and memory. Figures like Guǐ Yúqū (鬼臾區), a divine physician under the Yellow Emperor, bore this name with honor. Even the Guǐfāng (鬼方), a tribal nation recorded in Shang dynasty oracle bones, became intertwined with Chinese civilization through intermarriage and political ties.

Over centuries, however, the meaning of Guǐ 鬼 shifted. With the arrival of new philosophies and religions, concepts of the afterlife began to change. Daoism, emerging during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), introduced its own vision of spirits and immortality. Centuries later, Buddhism reached China in the 1st–2nd century CE, bringing with it fresh ideas of rebirth and karmic cycles. Later still, as monotheistic traditions spread eastward, notions of good and evil spirits further colored public imagination.

These shifts did not erase the Guǐ 鬼 legacy but slowly transformed how the word was understood. What was once sacred became associated with fear. Families who once carried the Guǐ 鬼 surname began changing it to Kuí (傀) or Wěi (隗) to escape stigma. Yet paradoxically, the memory of Guǐ endured—especially in rituals like the Ghost Festival, where lanterns float to honor those who came before us.

Importantly, this was not the “fault” of any tradition or faith. Cultures evolve, ideas intermingle, and meanings change. The story of Guǐ 鬼 simply reflects how history reshapes language and belief over time.

Amidst this sweep of history, the Guǐ 鬼 surname reminds us that ghosts were never meant to be monsters. They were mothers, healers, and ancestors; real people whose names carried honor, whose memory illuminated the path for generations to follow.

Legacy in the Light

Now that we near the close of Ghost Month, perhaps the lesson is clearer than ever. To know that Guǐ 鬼 was once a name carried with pride—not a shadow to be feared—reframes the way we see this season. These were real people, real families, whose presence shaped history, not faceless spirits meant to frighten us. And if knowledge can restore that truth, then remembrance can preserve it.

When I think of my grandparents, I choose not to imagine them as ghosts, but as they truly were: warm, generous, and full of love. Even in their absence, they live on through the values they instilled in my parents and, in turn, in me. Someday, I hope to carry that same love forward to my own children.

That is legacy—not a haunting, but a gift. As this Ghost Month comes to a close, may we remember those before us not with trembling, but with gratitude. May their memory inspire strength, not fear. This is the essence of the season: to honor those who came before us by transforming loss into legacy, fear into remembrance, and memory into light.

In the same spirit, this is also what CHiNOY TV’s newest initiative, #LEGACHi, seeks to uphold. In partnership with Your Legacy List by Cosmopolitan Memorial Chapels, it is a storytelling campaign that celebrates late loved ones, mentors, community figures, and even pets — keeping their stories alive so they may continue to inspire. Because remembering is more than looking back; it is choosing not to forget, and in that choice, we carry the stories of our loved ones forward.

Alt Text: Banner of LEGACHI Partnership Signing

File Name: LEGACHI Partnership Signing

Learn more about the #LEGACHi initiative, created in partnership with Your Legacy List by Cosmopolitan Memorial Chapels, and discover how it continues to honor stories that turn memory into legacy here.

And perhaps that is the true heart of Ghost Month: not ghosts to be feared, but lives to be remembered. To tell their stories, to light their names, to carry their presence within us—that is how history outlives fear, and how remembrance becomes an act of filial devotion.

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