Dugu (surname)

Dugu (獨孤) is an extremely rare Chinese compound surname of Xianbei origin.{{Cite book|last=Shang|first=Huping|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5WfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA78|title=The Belt and Road Initiative: Key Concepts|date=2019-06-27|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-981-13-9201-6|pages=78|language=en|quote=The Xianbei surnames which were changed to Han surnames include: [...] Dugu [...]}} There is also a small Korean population (Namwon Dokgo clan) with this surname (stylized as Dokgo or Tokko (독고) in Korean); many of them are found in North Korea, mainly in Ryongchon County and Uiju County near the Chinese border.

During the 6th century the Dugus were a powerful aristocratic family based in northwest China. They are best remembered today by the Dugu sisters, whose marriages linked the imperial families of 3 successive dynasties — the Northern Zhou (557–581), Sui (581–618), and Tang (618–907).

Shimunek (2017) reconstructs Tabgach *dʊqʊ which underlaid Chinese transcription {{lang|zh|獨孤}}, which was glossed as {{lang|zh|劉}} "battle-axe".{{cite book|last=Shimunek|first=Andrew|title=Languages of Ancient Southern Mongolia and North China: a Historical-Comparative Study of the Serbi or Xianbei Branch of the Serbi-Mongolic Language Family, with an Analysis of Northeastern Frontier Chinese and Old Tibetan Phonology|publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag|publication-place=Wiesbaden|year=2017|isbn=978-3-447-10855-3|oclc=993110372}}