For Reyes, my first sound-based choice is 雷 Léi, taken from the documented transcription 雷耶斯 Léiyēsī. If your existing Chinese spelling is 瑞葉斯, simplified 瑞叶斯, then 瑞 Ruì is a valid surname worth retaining. If you prefer the Spanish word association with kings, 王 Wáng offers a clear meaning-based alternative. These choices preserve different parts of your original name, so the best one depends on the connection you want to explain.
An English-language article for a US reader should not assume that Reyes is pronounced in just one English way. You may use a Spanish pronunciation, an English-adapted one or a family-specific form. Nor does the surname establish your nationality, ethnic identity or religion. Start with the name you actually say and any Chinese spelling you already use.
Two attested transcriptions
A United Nations document explicitly pairs Jose Luis Reyes Zelaya with 何塞·路易斯·雷耶斯·塞拉亚. That makes 雷耶斯 a directly evidenced rendering of Reyes. Separately, the National Academy for Educational Research's Spanish surname table prints Reyes — 瑞葉斯, on printed page 244. The latter is evidence of an alternative transcription, not an instruction to replace the former. 12
Both openings must be checked as Chinese surnames before using them alone. A full foreign-name transcription can contain characters that were chosen simply for sound. It does not automatically certify every character as a Chinese family name. Here, independent dictionaries do support both 雷 and 瑞, with different readings.
Keeping the full Reyes transcription remains useful on a bilingual profile, in a byline or when people need to match your Chinese presentation to an existing record. A one-character Chinese surname serves the different purpose of building a shorter personal Chinese name.
雷 keeps an audible part of the opening
The Ministry of Education's concise dictionary records 雷 as a surname under léi, the rising second tone. It also has the ordinary sense of thunder. These are separate dictionary senses: using 雷 does not mean Reyes historically means thunder. 3
Léi replaces the original r sound with a Mandarin l sound. In Spanish Reyes, the initial r is not an l; in English-adapted pronunciations, an English r is not an l either. The Mandarin vowel sequence provides a rough “lay”-like cue, but the whole surname's later sounds disappear. If you use a one-syllable English adaptation, the ending still will not survive in Léi. The Chinese tone is an additional feature, not a reproduction of Spanish or English stress.
The benefit is an explanation that is easy to show: 我姓雷，雷耶斯的雷, “My surname is Léi, the 雷 in 雷耶斯.” 雷 has the same character form in simplified and traditional Chinese. You can like the thunder association without presenting yourself as forceful, intimidating or destined for a particular personality.
瑞 keeps a different established spelling
Kotobank's presentation of the third-edition Chinese–Japanese Dictionary explicitly marks 瑞 as a surname in the entry headed ruì. This verifies a Chinese surname reading independently of 瑞葉斯. 瑞 is not being recommended merely because it appears in attractive given names. 4
Ruì has a falling fourth tone. Its Mandarin initial, commonly described as retroflex, is neither the Spanish trill nor an ordinary English r. The syllable also contains a rounded glide and changes the vowel pattern. Compared with Léi, it keeps a different kind of r-like cue but is not automatically a closer match to how every Reyes is pronounced.
瑞 can evoke an auspicious sign. That is a Chinese association attached to the chosen character, not an alternative etymology of Reyes or a guarantee of luck. It may be worth choosing if you prefer its appearance or already identify with 瑞葉斯. The trade-off is that you abandon the exact opening of 雷耶斯 and need to introduce a different sound. Do not call 雷 and 瑞 interchangeable spellings of the same Chinese surname.
王 follows the meaning rather than the sound
The surname dictionary reproduced by Ancestry describes Spanish Reyes as a plural form of Rey and also records a Castilianized form of Galician Reis. The Royal Spanish Academy's dictionary gives the ordinary royal meaning of rey. Those sources support a link with “kings”; they do not establish that your particular family descends from royalty. 56
王 Wáng is independently attested as a surname under the second-tone reading wáng, alongside its royal meanings. The surname reading here is not wàng, another reading the dictionary records for other uses. Choosing 王 preserves the royal idea, but it neither reproduces the sound of Reyes nor marks the Spanish plural. 7
This is a particularly straightforward choice if meaning matters most: 我姓王，国王的王, “My surname is Wáng, the 王 in ‘king’.” It is a way to identify the character. It is not a title, a claim of social rank or a statement of shared ancestry between Reyes and Chinese Wang families.
Decide using the whole name
Try each surname before the same Chinese given name. 雷 Léi and 王 Wáng begin with rising second tones, while 瑞 Ruì begins with a falling fourth tone. Similar tone numbers do not make the syllables alike: their consonants, vowels and endings differ substantially. Choose the form you can say comfortably and explain honestly.
My default is 雷 for continuity with 雷耶斯. Keep 瑞 in serious consideration if 瑞葉斯 is already your spelling, and choose 王 only when you deliberately prefer the royal word association. None requires adding an ancient emperor's surname to manufacture a more dramatic story. The meaning-based option already supplies the relevant connection without a speculative dynasty.
What the US figure measures
The recorded series source records REYES at rank 56, with a published frequency of 335,828, in the 2020 Census surname tabulation released April 14, 2026. The count comes from the standard disclosure-avoidance-processed file. It is not a count of current 2026 residents, and it should not be silently replaced with a 2010 figure or another file variant. The statistical row does not determine any individual bearer's background or Chinese surname choice. 8, 8.1
Research and methodology notes
Sources used in this comparison: NAER; MOE; kotobank.jp; MOE; DAFN. Read each source within the limits of the passage where it is cited. A documented transcription, surname use and surname pronunciation are separate questions.
The comparison is framed by “Two attested transcriptions” and “瑞 keeps a different established spelling”. Sound resemblance, word meaning and a cultural association are different reasons for choosing a name; only the routes argued in this article are proposed, without inferring personal ancestry.
Statistical scope: 2020 US Census published surname frequencies, released in 2026; not current residents.
