Region of origin China | Language(s) of origin Chinese | |
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Pronunciation Zhèng (Mandarin)
Tcheng or Cheng/Chang (Hong Kong)
Cheang (Macao)
Tee,Tay, Teh or The (Hokkien, Teochew)
Dang or Dhang (Hokchew) Meaning name of an ancient state in Henan province Related names | ||
Zhèng (Hanyu Pinyin) or Cheng (Wade-Giles) is a Chinese surname and also the name of an ancient state in today's Henan province. It is written as 鄭 in traditional Chinese and 郑 in simplified Chinese.
Contents
In 2006, Zheng (Cheng/Chang) ranked 21st in China's list of top 100 most common surnames. Zheng (Cheng/Chang) belongs to the second major group of ten surnames which makes up more than 10% of the Chinese population. Zheng (Cheng/Chang) was a major surname of the rich and powerful during China's Tang dynasty.
In Hong Kong and Taiwan, the name is normally romanized as Cheng or Tcheng, but it is occasionally romanized as Chang in Hong Kong. It is commonly romanized as Cheng, Cheang and Teh in Malaysia, Tay in Singapore and Te in Indonesia, from the Hakka, Hokkien and Teochew pronunciation of the character. It also pronounces Dâng in Hokchew.
The surname also has taken form outside of Chinese societies: in Vietnamese as Trịnh. In Korean, the name is written 정 and transliterated as Chung, Jung, or Jeong. It is the fifth most common Korean surname (after Kim, Yi, Park, and Choi), with about 4.85% of the South Korean population (2,230,611 people) having this name.
Origin
The Zheng surname originated in Henan. In 806 BC, King Xuan, the penultimate king of the Western Zhou Dynasty, enfeoffed his younger brother Prince You, who became posthumously known as Duke Huan of Zheng, at Zheng (present-day Hua County, Shaanxi). Duke Huan was killed along with King You of Zhou when the Quanrong tribes sacked the Zhou capital Haojing in 771 BC. Duke Huan was succeeded by his son Duke Wu, who helped King Ping of Zhou establish the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Luoyang, and his feudal state of Zheng was also moved east to present-day Henan. His descendants and many people of the state later adopted Zheng as their surname.
During the Tang dynasty the Li family of Zhaojun 赵郡李氏, the Cui family of Boling 博陵崔氏, the Cui family of Qinghe 清河崔氏, the Lu family of Fanyang 范陽盧氏, the Zheng family of Xingyang 荥阳郑氏, the Wang family of Taiyuan 太原王氏, and the Li family of Longxi 隴西李氏 were the seven noble families between whom marriage was banned by law. Moriya Mitsuo wrote a history of the Later Han-Tang period of the Taiyuan Wang. Among the strongest families was the Taiyuan Wang. The prohibition on marriage between the clans issued in 659 by the Gaozong Emperor was flouted by the seven families since a woman of the Boling Cui married a member of the Taiyuan Wang, giving birth to the poet Wang Wei. He was the son of Wang Chulian who in turn was the son of Wang Zhou. The marriages between the families were performed clandestinely after the prohibition was implemented on the seven families by Gaozong. Their status as "Seven Great surnames" became known during Gaozong's rule.
Notable people
There are over 400 Zhengs listed in the Who's Who in Chinese History.