Seeking One's Roots, And Finding It's Cinnabar

Decided to look up my old family name for the hell of it. I'm sick, bored, and just bloody-minded enough to go do some etymological sticky-beaking in a language I'm functionally illiterate in.

This list has been reproduced as part of a comprehensive online dictionary. My only gripe is that I don't know which way to read the list, right-to-left (conventional Chinese) or left-to-right (Western style). Does this mean my family name is the 102nd or 82nd most common surname in China? Just even out the differences and place it at 92nd.

To my great delight, I now actually have an understanding of how the family name evolved, even if I still need to concentate in order to write it. I still don't know how Chinese surnames originated. European surnames, for example, derive from four distinct types - occupational, patronymic, geographical, and descriptive - Chinese surnames just seem to be random words.

Still, it's always fun to find out the meaning of names, doubly so when you discover it's a something you like, and doubly doubly so when you've managed it in a foreign language.