Chinese character 鲍

In modern Chinese, it means abalone and serves as a surname.

In Mandarin, 鲍 is pronounced Bào, roughly like “pow” with a short, unaspirated p sound and falling pitch. In 鲍鱼, it names abalone.

Older dictionaries gloss traditional 鮑 as salted or pickled fish; that sense survives in 鲍鱼之肆, while the modern compound 鲍鱼 means abalone. In simplified 鲍, 鱼 signals the fish connection and 包 hints at the sound.

Is 鲍 a surname or a food word?

It can be both; the surrounding words settle the reading.

In a personal name, it is the surname Bào. Traditional surname histories trace Bao to a place in Qi, an ancient Chinese state, and remember Bao Shuya alongside Guan Zhong. In 鲍鱼 it means abalone; in 鲍鱼之肆, it keeps the older salted-fish sense in an idiom about a fish shop and, figuratively, a foul environment.

鲍鱼之肆 is negative, so it is a poor name for a seafood venue.