In East Asian Buddhism, monks and nuns usually adopt a Buddhist surname and a Dharma name, which are combined in the surname-first East-Asian naming order.
Since the 4th century the standard Buddhist surname has been Shi (Chinese: 釋, Korean: Seok, Vietnamese: Thích,[1] Japanese: Shaku), which is the first syllable of Shijiamouni, the Chinese word for Shakyamuni.
[2] Previously Chinese monks and nuns used several other Buddhist surnames, typically designating the ethnonational origin of their foreign preceptors.
[2] The most notable early surname was Zhu (Chinese: 竺; pinyin: Zhú; Wade–Giles: Chu2; Jyutping: Zuk1),[4] which came from Tianzhu (the Chinese word for India).
[2] Other Buddhist surnames included: The adoption of a Buddhist surname signifies the ordinand's severance of family bonds and their full devotion to the teachings of the Buddha.