Wang (王; pinyin: Wáng) is one of the most common and ancient Chinese family names. It is ranked 8th in the Hundred Family Surnames, and 1st in "National Citizen ID Information System" (NCIIS). As of 2007, Wang is ranked as the most common surname in Mainland China, with 92.88 million people bearing this surname.[2] Translated into English, Wang literally means "king” (see Chinese noble#Wang, also King (surname)), although bearing the name has no royal implications in most cases. Outside of China, there are also many people who bear Wang as their surname, such as in Korea.
Wang (Chinese: 王; pinyin: Wáng) is also romanized as "Wong", especially for people from Hong Kong or from Guangdong. Note that "Wong" is actually the Cantonese romanization of three different surnames; Wang (Chinese: 王; pinyin: Wáng), Huang (Chinese: 黄; pinyin: Huáng) and Wang (Chinese: 汪; pinyin: Wāng). In addition, "Wang" is the Cantonese romanization of the following uncommon family names: 橫 (Pinyin: Héng), 弘 (Hóng), 閎 (Hóng), and 宏 (Hóng). In Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, it was romanized as Ong (Hokkien romanization) and Heng (TeoChew Romanization).
Origins and development
There were many origins in the development of Wang as a surname, but the main origins that structure the modern surname of Wang were four: Zi, Ji, Gui and change of surnames from other ethnic groups outside of Han Chinese. [3]
Zi house
The most ancient family name of Wang was originated from the surname Zi. The Chinese legend mentions that near the end of Shang Dynasty, King Zhou of Shang's uncle Bi Gan, Qi Zi and Wei Zi were called "The Three Kindhearted of Shang". King Zhou was violent in his rule, and Bi Gan repeatedly remonstrated to the king regarding his behavior. The king refused his comments, and killed Bi Gan instead. Bi's descendants used "Wang" as their surname as they are descendants of a prince, and was known as the "The Bi clan of Wang family".[4] The Zi clan existed around 3100 years through Qin Dynasty to Tang Dynasty, and until today. The Zi clan of Wang lived predominantly in Henan during these times, and developed into the famous Wang Family of Ji prefecture. [5]
Ji house
More families of Wang were originated from the royal family of Zhou Dynasty. The original surname of the royal family of Zhou Dynasty was Ji. However, many of them have separated out of the family due to the loss of power and land. Because of they once belonged to the royal family, they used "Wang" as their surname. This family of Wang traced its ancestry to Wang Ziqiao[6]
According to the classical records, after King Wu of Zhou defeated the Shang Dynasty, he chose the capital at the city of Gao. This was known in history as the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the reign of the 21st king, King Ling of Zhou (571 - 545 BCE), the capital was in Chen Zhou, which is the present day Luoyang, Henan. The son of King Ling, crown prince Jin (also known as Prince Jin or Prince Qiao), was reduced to civilian status due to his remonstration to the king. His son Zong Jin remains to be a Situ in the palace, and because of the people at the time recognized him as the descendant of the royal family, they called his family the "Wang family".[7] From this moment on, this clan used "Wang" as their surname. When the 8th generation of the Ji clan of Wang Wang Cuo became a general in the State of Wei, the clan finally regained its status. In the early period of Qin Dynasty, this clan was active in areas of Luoyang, Henan. Between the end of Qin Dynasty and the beginning of Han Dynasty, Wang Yuan and Wang Wei, sons of the Marquis of Wuchen Wang Li, moved to Langye, Shandong and Taiyuan, Shanxi. Since then, they have developed into the most famous Wang family of Langye and Taiyuan, the biggest group in the surname of Wang. The Ji clan of Wang existed around 2600 years. In China, 90% of the Wang family that have their family tree originated from the Ji clan of Wang.[citation needed]
Wang in other countries and ethnic groups
Hmong
The Hmong version of Wang is Vang, or in RPA Vaj or Vaaj. It has the same etymology as the Chinese surname, and is fairly common among the Hmong. The Vang constitute one of the largest of the eighteen clans of the Hmong.
Korean
Wang is a Korean family name 왕 but fairly rare in Korea. According to the South Korean census of 2000, in that year 23,447 people bearing the Wang surname were living in the country. [1]
Surname Wang is said to have originated from the Silla kingdom, which was one of the kingdom's noble family which originally had the surname jak (작). However when Wang Geon the founder of the Goryeo kingdom met a buddhist monk at an early age with his father, the buddhist monk foresore and said that he will one day become king and therefore his father changed their last name into Wang (meaning King) which later did indeed became a reality with Wang Geon establishing the kingdom of Goryeo.
Surname Wang was the Goryeo royal family name for the duration of the kingdom, however currently Wang is a fairly uncommon surname. It is said that when Goryeo fell, people called Wang changed their surname to avoid severe persecution from the succeeding Joseon Dynasty. The Kaesong Wang lineage traces its ancestry to the Goryeo rulers.
Japanese
Ō (often romanized as "Oh" or "O") is a rare Japanese family name which is the equivalent of Wang. Ō is the way Japanese pronounce the character 王. Most Japanese with this family name are of Chinese descent.[citation needed] Sadaharu Oh is a famous baseball player and manager in Japan.
Indonesian
The surname Wang in Indonesia is often pronounced as Heng or Bong for people of Hokkien descent, and more commonly as Ong by Chinese Peranakan.
Vietnamese
The name Wang in the Vietnamese language is Vương.
Prominent personages
- Note: people with the family name “Ō” are listed in the “Ō” article.
Chinese
- An Wang, computer scientist who founded Wang Laboratories
- Wang Anshi, politician during the Song Dynasty.
- Wang Bi, Taoist philosopher during the Three Kingdoms
- Wang Can, scholar of late Eastern Han Dynasty
- Charles Wang, co-founder of Computer Associates International Inc.
- Wang Chien-shien, politician of the Republic of China
- Wang Chong (27 – 97 C.E.), Chinese philosopher
- Wang Chong, general during the Three Kingdoms period
- Wang Chongyang, Taoist
- Wang David, former Chinese ambassador to Australia.
- Wang David, professional American track athlete
- Wang Dan, Student Leader - Tiananmen Square Dissident
- Wang Dao, statesman and chief advisor of Emperor Yuan of Jin
- Wang Dun, ambitious militant of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
- Wang Fanxi, Trotskyist
- Wang Guowei, scholar of late Qing Dynasty, early Republican era
- Faye Wong, Chinese singer
- Wang Fuzhi (1619 – 1693 C.E.) Chinese philosopher and historian
- Garrett Wang, Chinese American actor
- Wang Guangmei, wife of Liu Shaoqi
- Wang Guangya, UN ambassador
- Wang Hao, Chinese-American logician, philosopher and mathematician
- Wong Kar-wai, movie director
- Wang Ling, historian of Chinese science
- Wang Liqin, table tennis player
- Wang Mang, founder of Xin Dynasty
- Wang Meng, Chief Advisor of Fu Jian
- Wang Nan, table tennis player
- Paul Wang, American film producer
- Wang Shiyan, Chinese Painter
- Wang Shizhen, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang subordinate
- Wang Tao, (1828 – 1897) Reformer, political essayist, newspaper publisher, fiction writer
- Vera Wang, designer
- Wang David, Abercrombie/Hollister model
- Wayne Wang, movie director
- Wang Wei, Famous poet of Tang Dynasty
- Wang Xizhi, calligrapher during the Eastern Jin Dynasty
- Wang Xianzhi, calligrapher, son of Wang Xizhi
- Wang Xiaobo, modern writer
- Wang Yan, statesman and Taoist philosopher during the Western Jin Dynasty
- Wang Yangming, prominent Neo-Confucian of Ming Dynasty
- Wang Yuegu, China-born Singaporean Olympic table tennis player
- Wang Zhaojun, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China
- Empress Wang Zhengjun, mother of Emperor Cheng of Han and aunt of Wang Mang
- Wang Zhizhi, former NBA player
- Yuja Wang, Classical pianist
- Wong Jing, movie director
- Wang Jingwei (汪精卫), politician of early Republic of China
- Wang Daohan (汪道涵), politician of the People's Republic of China and president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits
- Lee-Hom Wang, Taiwanese American singer-songwriter, actor, and commercial model
- Wáng Dǐngchāng, (王鼎昌), (Ong Teng Cheong) The first directly elected President of Republic of Singapore
Korean
Fiction
Notes and citations
References
- Yuan (袁), Yida (義達) (2002). Chinese Surnames, Group Heredity and Spread of Population (中国姓氏·群体遗传和人口分布). Huadong Training College Publishing Group (華東師範大學出版社). ISBN 7-5617-2769-0/C.081.
- Zhang (臧), Lihe (勵和) ( (1998). The Great Dictionary of Chinese Names (中國人名大辭典), updated by Xu Shitian (許師慎). The Commercial Press (商務印書館). ISBN 7-100-02555-9.
See also
External links
