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Zhang (surname)

Chinese surname From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zhang (surname)
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For the less common surname 章, see Zhang (surname 章).

Zhang ([ʈʂáŋ] ⓘ; traditional Chinese: 張; simplified Chinese: 张) is the third most common surname in China and Taiwan (commonly spelled as Chang in Taiwan), and it is one of the most common surnames in the world.[2][3] It is spoken in the first tone Zhāng. It is a surname that exists in many languages and cultures, corresponding to the surname 'Archer' in English for example.[4] In the Wade–Giles system of romanization, it is romanized as Chang, which is commonly used in Taiwan. Cheung is commonly used in Hong Kong as a romanization. It is the 24th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem, contained in the verse 何呂施張 (Hé Lǚ Shī Zhāng).

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Zhang is also the pinyin romanization of the less-common surnames 章 (Zhāng), which is the 40th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem, and 仉 (Zhǎng).

Today, it is one of the most common surnames in the world at over 100 million people worldwide.[5] Zhang was listed by the People's Republic of China's National Citizen ID Information System as the third-most-common surname in mainland China (April 2007), with 87.50 million bearers.[6][7]

A commonly cited but erroneous factoid in the 1990 Guinness Book of Records listed it as the world's most common surname,[8] but no comprehensive information from China was available at the time and more recent editions have not repeated the claim.

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Transliterations and derivatives

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Zhang in Mandarin, alternatively romanized as Chang in Taiwan and among the Chinese diaspora using older romanization systems. However, Zhang has been the official first-recommended translation for 張 in Taiwan since 2017.

Derivatives

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Distribution

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  • Zhang Fei (died July or August 221 AD)'s subordinates Fan Qiang (范彊) and Zhang Da (張達) assassinated their commander, decapitated the corpse, and brought the head along with them as they defected to Sun Quan's side.
  • Zhang Gaoli (Disappearance of Peng Shuai)
  • Trương Mỹ Lan (Chinese: 張美蘭, born 13 October 1956) On 11 April 2024, Lan was sentenced to death.
For list of people with surname Zhang, see List of people with surname Zhang.

As mentioned above, 張 is the third-most-common surname in mainland China, making up 6.83% of the population of the People's Republic of China.[9] In 2019 it was the most common surname in exactly one provincial-level division, Shanghai municipality.[10] In Taiwan, 張 is the fourth-most-common surname, making up 5.26% of the population of the Republic of China. In 2019 it was again the third most common surname in Mainland China.[10]

Zhang Wei (张伟) has been the most common family name and given name combination in China for many years.

Among the Chinese diaspora, the name remains common but takes on various romanizations. "Teo" and "Chong" are amongst the most common surnames among Chinese Singaporeans, listed at 11th and 19th respectively;[11] "Chang" is the 6th-most-common surname among Chinese Americans; and "Zhang" was the 7th-most-common particularly Chinese surname found in a 2010 survey of Ontario's Registered Persons Database of Canadian health card recipients.[12]

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History

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Characters

張 combines the Chinese characters 弓 (gōng, "bow") and 長 (simp. 长, cháng, "long" or "wide"). It originally meant "to open up" or "to spread" as an arching bow, but as a common noun in modern use it is a measure word for flat objects such as paper and cloth, like the English "sheet of".

Families

The traditional origin of the surname 張 (Old Chinese: *C. traŋ[1]) is rooted in Chinese legend. The fifth son of the Yellow Emperor, Qing Yangshi (simplified Chinese: 青阳氏; traditional Chinese: 青陽氏; pinyin: Qīng Yángshì), had a son Hui (挥; 揮; Huī) who was inspired by the Heavenly Bow constellation (天弓星, Tiān Gōng Xīng) to invent the bow and arrow. Hui was then promoted to "First Bow" (弓正, Gōng Zhèng) and bestowed the surname 張, which – when broken into its constituent radicals – means "widening bow" or "archer". Its Middle Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as Trjang.[1]

Other origins

  • for some families, it is traced back to Xie Zhang (解張), whose style name was Zhang Hou (張侯, lit “Marquis Zhang”) a noble in Jin during the Spring and Autumn period.
  • from the family of Zhang Liao (張遼), an official in Cao Wei during Three Kingdoms period. Zhāng Liao's family had changed from Nie to Zhang to avoid association with his disgraced ancestor Nie Yi (聶壹).[13]
  • the surname is also traced back to Long Youna, chief of a minority ethnic groups during the Three Kingdoms period, who was given the Chinese surname Zhang (張) by Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu.

Notable people with the surname Zhang

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See also

References

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