Kong (surname)

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Kong (孔)
The stroke order of 孔
Language(s)Chinese
Origin
Language(s)Old Chinese
Word/name子, 乙
DerivationFusion of 子 and 乙
Other names
Variant form(s)
  • Kung (Taiwan)
  • Hung (Hong Kong)
  • Khổng (Vietnam)
  • Gong (Korea)

Kong (Chinese: 孔; Korean: 공) is a Chinese and Korean surname. It can also be written as Kung in Taiwan, Hung in Hong Kong, Khổng in Vietnam, and Gong in Korea. There are around 2.1 million people with this surname in China in 2002, representing 0.23% of the population.[1] In 2018, it was the 97th-most common surname in China.[citation needed] It is the 25th name in the Hundred Family Surnames poem.

Kong is most notable as the surname of

Sacrificial Official to Confucius in the 20th century. This title is currently held by Kung Tsui-chang
.

Kong may also be the English transliteration of a rare Chinese surname 空, or a less common form of the Gong surnames such as 龔, 貢 and 弓.

Origin

Portrait of Confucius
See also: Family tree of Confucius in the main line of descent

The character for the Kong surname was derived from the

Zhou Dynasty as the courtesy name Kongfu (孔父) of a noble in the State of Song named Jia (嘉), said to be a descendant of the Tang of Shang. Kongfu Jia was murdered, and his son escaped to the State of Lu where he adopted Kong as the name of his clan.[4] His family settled in Qufu
and Confucius was one of his descendants.

The Kong surname may also have originated from a number of other sources. Others had adopted Kong as their surname because it was part of their ancestors' name. For example, in the

surname Ji) (姬), had Shikong (士孔) and Zikong (子孔) as their respective courtesy names, and their descendants took Kong as their surname.[5] Similarly, there was a noble in the State of Chen named Kongning (孔寧, originally of surname Gui (媯)), and another in the State of Qi named Konghui (孔虺, originally of surname Jiang
(姜)); the descendants of both also adopted the surname Kong.

Some of the non-Han Chinese people used Kong as their surname, such as the

Yugur people
. Various Manchu clans also simplified their surnames to Kong.

Notable bearers

Further information: Category:Descendants of Confucius

Kong

Kung

  • H. H. Kung (1881–1967), banker and politician in the Republic of China
  • H. T. Kung (born 1945), Taiwanese-born American computer scientist
  • Kung Te-cheng (1920–2008), Duke Yansheng, Confucian ceremonial official
  • Kung Tsui-chang (born 1975), Confucian ceremonial official

Gong

For the surname Gong representing 龔 or 共, see Gong (surname).

Hung

See also

References

  1. ISBN 9787561727690
    .
  2. ^ 周静 (2008-10-31). "New Confucius Genealogy out next year". China.org.cn.
  3. ^ "Confucian family tree 'triples'". BBC. 25 September 2009.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-9812294623
    .
  5. ^ 孔德懋 (2000). 孔子家族全书: 家事本末. 辽海出版社.
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