Lei can represent one or more romanized Chinese surname

Chinese surname

Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...

. The most common character is 雷 (Léi), meaning "Thunder". 雷 (Léi) is the 78th most common Chinese surname as of 2006 according to a study carried out by the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Common romanizations of non-Mandarin variants include Lui (common in Hong Kong) and Louie/Louis (common for descendants of the Taishan region of Guangdong).

Additionally, a more common Chinese surname that can be romanized Lei is 李 (Li) (more commonly romanized as Li or Lee). The spelling Lei for this surname is used mostly in Macau

Macau

Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...

. It reflects Cantonese pronunciation. The Macau romanization derives from Portuguese language

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

 influence (Macau was a former Portuguese colony).

Prominent people with last name 雷 (Léi)

• Steven Gwon Sheng Louie
  Steven Gwon Sheng Louie
  Steven Gwon Sheng Louie is a computational condensed-matter physicist. He is a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley and senior faculty scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where his research focuses on nanoscience...
  
  , Chinese-American physicist
• Lei Chen
  Lei Chen
  Lei Chen was an early leading figure in the movement to bring fuller democracy to the government of Taiwan, the non-Communist nationalist Republic of China....
  
   (1897- 1979), Taiwanese politicians
• Lei Feng
  Lei Feng
  Lei Feng was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army in the People's Republic of China. After his death, Lei was characterised as a selfless and modest person who was devoted to the Communist Party, Chairman Mao Zedong, and the people of China...
  
  
• Raymond Louie
  Raymond Louie
  Raymond Louie is a three term Vancouver City Councillor and a former school Trustee. Formerly a member of Coalition of Progressive Electors civic party, Louie broke away and was re-elected in 2005, and again in 2008, as a member of Vision Vancouver.-Background:Born and raised in East Vancouver,...
  
   (born 1965), Canadian politician
• Alexina Louie
  Alexina Louie
  Alexina Louie, OC, FRSC is a Canadian composer of Chinese descent who has written many pieces for orchestra, as well as pieces for solo piano.-Biography:Alexina Louie was born in Vancouver and received an...
  
   (born 1949), Canadian composer
• Lei Sheng
  Lei Sheng
  Lei Sheng is a Chinese foil fencer.Lei won the bronze medal at the foil 2006 World Fencing Championships after he lost 15-10 to Peter Joppich in the semi final. He also competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics-References:...
  
   (born 1984), Chinese foil fencer
• Lei Yixin
  Lei Yixin
  Lei Yixin is a prominent Chinese sculptor.- Childhood and Education :Lei was born to a family of scholars in Changsha, Hunan, China....
  
   (born 1954), Chinese sculptor
• Runhua Lei, zoologist
• The Lei style architects of the Qing Dynasty

See also

• List of common Chinese surnames
• Hundred Family Surnames
  Hundred Family Surnames
  The Hundred Family Surnames is a classic Chinese text composed of common surnames in ancient China. The book was composed in the early Song Dynasty. It originally contained 411 surnames, but was later expanded to 504. Of these, 444 are single-character surnames, and 60 are double-character surnames...
  
  
• 样式雷