Chinese surname

李

The Chinese surname 李 (Mandarin lǐ, Cantonese lei5) is spelled Lee, Li in Malaysia, depending on the dialect romanization.

Mandarin (pinyin)	lǐ
Cantonese (Jyutping)	lei5
Definition (Unihan)	plum; judge; surname

Spelling tree of 李

李 is spelled 2 ways in our records. Each label is the romanization a spelling follows, not the bearer’s dialect.

Spelling	Romanization
Lee	Hokkien · Cantonese · Hakka
Li	Mandarin

All surname characters and spellings

Spellings of 李 in Malaysia

LeeSpelling common in Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka romanization
LiSpelling common in Mandarin (pinyin) romanizationAlso stands for 黎, 利

Character readings and definition: Unicode Unihan Database (Unicode License). A spelling describes how the name is written, not anyone’s dialect or background.