Cha Family History

Korean (Ch’a): written 자 in Chinese characters 車 meaning ‘cart’ or ‘wagon’. This is the only Chinese character for the surname Ch’a and the Yŏnan Ch’a clan is the only clan. Their founding ancestor was Ch’a Hyojŏn (車; 孝全) the son of a Koryŏ high minister named Yu Ch’a-tal (10th century AD). He served the incoming Koryŏ rulers with exceptional valour and loyalty so the Koryŏ monarch bestowed upon his first son the surname Ch’a (車) and enfeoffed him with Yŏnan County in Hwanghae South Province.

Ch’a is a fairly common surname throughout the Korean peninsula but most of the clan's members live in Kyŏngsang province, Hwanghae province, or P’yŏngan province. Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 茶 meaning ‘tea’ in Chinese: (i) possibly borne by the descendants of Lu Yu (733–804 AD), a famous figure during the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) known as the Sage of Tea who wrote the book Classic of Tea.

(ii) from the first element of the placename Chalin (茶陵 located in present-day Hunan province) said to be the place where the legendary Yan Emperor was buried. (iii) adopted in place of the surname Meng (蒙) by some members living in Yunnan in order to avoid persecution or feud. (iv) adopted as a Han Chinese surname by some minority ethnic groups in southwestern China.

Chinese: Cantonese form and alternative Mandarin form of the surname 查 see Zha. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 謝 see Xie. Southeast Asian (Hmong): from the name of the Cha or Chang clan of the Hmong people in Laos, China, and Vietnam; in Chinese characters it is written 張 (see Zhang).

Compare Chang 1.