邱 is primarily used as a surname. It is a variant of 丘, meaning 'hill' or 'mound'. The two forms are largely interchangeable as surnames, with 邱 being more common in Taiwan and among overseas Chinese communities.
Right-side 阝 is the city radical 邑, used here to disambiguate 邱 from the older 丘 surname after the taboo on Confucius's personal name. The same radical drives place-name and surname chars like 邓, 郭, 邹, 邢.
丘 supplies the sound directly, qiū with the same tone, and is also the original surname character. 邱 was created when the personal name of Confucius (孔丘) made 丘 taboo, so a 阝 was added to deflect the taboo while preserving sound and family lineage.
