Language(s) Chinese Word/Name 子, 乙 | Language(s) Old Chinese Derivation Fusion of 子 and 乙 | |
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Variant(s) Kung (Taiwan)
Hung (Hong Kong)
Khổng (Vietnam),
Gong (Korea) | ||
Kong (孔, /ˈkoʊŋ/) 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.
Contents
This surname Kong is most notable as the surname of Confucius and his descendants. The family tree of Confucius and his descendants is generally considered to be the world longest, covering over 2,500 years with more than 80 generations recorded, and has two million entries according to its last update in 2009. The main line of descent traditionally held the title of Duke Yansheng, which was changed to the title of the first 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
The character for the Kong surname was derived from the Zi (子) family name. The founder of the Shang Dynasty, Tang of Shang whose family name was Zi, had the courtesy name of Taiyi (太乙). His descendants fused the character Zi (子) to Yi (乙), forming the character Kong (孔) which eventually became a surname. It first appeared during 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. 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 State of Zheng, two of Duke Mu of Zheng's (鄭穆公) sons (surname Ji) (姬), had Shikong (士孔) and Zikong (子孔) as their respective courtesy names, and their descendants took Kong as their surname. Similarly, a noble in the State of Chen name Kongning (孔宁, originally of surname Gui (妫)), and Konghui (孔虺, originally of surname Jiang (姜)) in the State of Qi, the descendants of both also adopted the surname Kong.
Some of the non-Han Chinese people used Kong as their surname, such as the Derung (獨龍), Jingpo (景颇), Tibetan, and the Yugur people. Various Manchu clans also simplified their surnames to Kong.