Meaning & History
From Chinese 邱 or 丘 (qiū) referring to a place called Yingqiu that existed in the state of Qi in what is now Shandong province. The name was originally written with the character 丘 until its usage was prohibited during the Qing dynasty in order to avoid a taboo caused by using the character of Confucius's given name, 丘. As a result, the character was modified to become 邱, which is now more prevalent (丘 is still used as well, though much less commonly).