Sima (simplified Chinese: 司马; traditional Chinese: 司馬; pinyin: Sīmǎ; Wade-Giles: Ssu-ma) is a Chinese family name. Unlike most single-character Chinese family names, it is one of the rare two-character family names. It is an occupation name, literally meaning "control" (sī) "horses" (mǎ), and corresponds exactly to the English surname Marshall, whose etymology is from the Frankish mare ("horse") + skalkoz ("servant"). The surname originated from one of the office of the Three Excellencies of the Han dynasty.
People with family name 司馬
- Sima Rangju or Rang Ju, strategist during the Spring and Autumn Period and regarded as the author of Sima Fa (司馬法, "Sima's Art of War")
- Sima Qian, historian in Western Han Dynasty and author of Records of the Grand Historian
- Sima Xiangru, a minor official in Western Han Dynasty but better known for his poetic skills, Chinese wine (jiu) business and controversial marriage to a widow Zhuo Wenjun after both eloped.
- Sima Yi, renowned strategist during the Three Kingdoms, ultimate adversary of Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the revered progenitor of the Jin Dynasty (265-420).
- Sima Shi, son of Sima Yi
- Sima Zhao, son of Sima Yi and younger brother of Sima Shi, de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Wei and the origin of a Chinese proverb.
- Sima Yan, also known as the Emperor Wu of Jin, was a son of Sima Zhao. He took the throne of the Kingdom of Wei, proclaimed the Jin Dynasty and unified China.
- Sima Ai, son of Emperor Wu of Jin and Prince of Changsha among the Eight Princes
- the ruling family of the Jin Dynasty (265-420).
- Sima Guang, historian and statesman during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), known for his monumental historical work Zizhi Tongjian and rivalry against contemporary Wang Anshi. There is a popular story of him, as a youth, saving someone who fell into a large water pot by smashing it with a rock.
