Tang Family History

Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 湯 meaning ‘soup’ or ‘hot water’ in Chinese: (i) from part of the title of Cheng Tang (成湯) a title of Lü founder of the Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BC). (ii) from the personal name of Tang Yue (湯悅) who changed his original surname Yin (殷) to Tang (湯) during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127 AD). Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 唐 meaning ‘boastful’ or ‘in vain’ in ancient Chinese: (i) from the placename Tang (唐) the name of a fief (located in present-day Shanxi province) which is said to have belonged to the legendary Emperor Yao (c. 24th century BC).

The state of Tang was annexed by King Cheng of Zhou (reigned 1042–1021 BC). The original inhabitants migrated to the state of Du (located in present-day Shaanxi province), adopting 唐 as their surname. Later King Cheng of Zhou granted the fiefdom of Tang to Shu Yu also known as Tang Shu Yu (Shu Yu of Tang), the third son of King Wu of Zhou (c. 1087–1043 BC). The fiefdom was eventually annexed by the state of Chu in 505 BC. Some of his descendants too inherited 唐 the name of the fief as their surname.

(ii) In some families, this surname can be traced back to a minority ethnic group in the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD) in southwestern China. Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 鄧 see Deng. Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 滕 see Teng. Chinese: alternative Mandarin form of the surname 黨 see Dang. Chinese: Hokkien form of the surname 董 see Dong.

Chinese: Teochew or Hokkien form of the surname 陳 see Chen. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鄭 based on its Hokchew (Fuzhou) pronunciation, a Min dialect spoken in the provincial capital of Fujian province, see Zheng. Vietnamese (Tăng): from the Chinese surname 曾 see Zeng. Southeast Asian (Iu Mien): from the name of the Tang clan of the Iu Mien people from Laos. Compare Saetern.

Korean: only one Chinese character is used in Korean for the surname Tang, and the Miryang is the only Tang clan. Its founding ancestor Tang Sŏng migrated from Yüan China some time during the latter part of the 14th century. This is a comparatively rare surname in Korea. Norwegian: habitational name from the farm name Tang in Sogn, most likely of the same origin as Tangen. Compare Thang.