Kong Family History

Korean: there are two Chinese characters for the surname Kong. One of these is borne by only one clan the other by two clans. One of the Kong clans claims Confucius as its ancestor the 53rd ancestor of Confucius having migrated from his home in China to Koryŏ and settled in Ch’angwŏn where his grave can still be seen today. The other two Kong clans the Kimhae Kong and the Munch’ŏn Kong clans both sprang from descendants of a famous T’ang Chinese scholar Kong Yun-po. A man named Kong Myŏng-nye founded the Kimhae Kong clan when he was exiled to Kimhae during the reign of Chosŏn King Sŏngjong in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The founder of the Munch’ŏn Kong clan Kong Chin-ŏn was banished to Munchŏn in Hamgyŏng province during the reign of Chosŏn King Sejong during the first half of the fifteenth century. Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 孔 meaning ‘hole’ in Chinese: (i) from the first element of the personal name Kong Fu (孔父) style name of Kong Fu Jia (孔父嘉) an official in the state of Song who was murdered in 710 BC. His son then fled to the state of Lu and inherited 孔 as his surname. The philosopher Confucius (551–479 BC) was one of his descendants. (ii) from the first element of the personal name Kong Kui (孔悝) style name of an official in the state of Wey (衛) (located mainly around present-day Hebi and Xinxiang in Henan province) during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC). (iii) from the first element of the personal name Kong Ning (孔寧) style name of an official in the state of Chen (mainly in present-day eastern Henan province and northwestern Haozhou in Anhui province) during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC). (iv) from the second element of the personal name Zi Kong (子孔) style name of a prince from the state of Zheng (located in part of present-day Shaanxi and Henan province) during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC). Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 江 see Jiang Chinese: Cantonese form of the surnames 龔 鞏 宮 公 弓 貢 and 恭 see Gong 1-7. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鄺 see Kuang Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 康 based on its Hakka pronunciation see Kang 7: Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 亢 see Kang 8: Cambodian: written គង់ from a Khmer word meaning e.g. ‘(to be) invulnerable’.9: Cambodian: written កង same as Kang 9.10: Southeast Asian (Hmong): from the name of the Kong clan of the Hmong people in Laos China and Vietnam; in Chinese characters it is written 龔 or 鞏 (see Gong 1 and ).1 Danish: nickname from kong ‘king’ or an occupational name for someone in the service of the king.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022