Zhang (; ) is the third most common surname in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

(commonly spelled as Chang in Taiwan), and it is one of the most common surnames in the world. 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. In the

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles ( ) is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from the system produced by Thomas Francis Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles's '' A Chinese–English Dictionary'' ...

system of

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

, it is romanized as Chang, which is commonly used in

. Cheung is commonly used in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

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)''. Zhang is also the pinyin romanization of the less-common surnames (''Zhāng''), which is the 40th name on the '' Hundred Family Surnames'' poem, and (''Zhǎng''). Today, it is one of the most common surnames in the world at over 100 million people worldwide. Zhang was listed by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

's National Citizen ID Information System as the third-most-common surname in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

(April 2007), with 87.50 million bearers. A commonly cited but erroneous factoid in the 1990

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

listed it as the world's most common surname, but no comprehensive information from China was available at the time and more recent editions have not repeated the claim.

Transliterations and derivatives

* Zhang in Mandarin, alternatively romanized as Chang in

and among the Chinese diaspora using older romanization systems. However, Zhang has been the official first-recommended translation for in

since 2017. * Cheung or Zoeng in

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

* Teo, Teoh, Theo, Thio, or Tio in

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

and Teochew * Chong and Cheong in Hakka * Tiong in Eastern Min and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

* Cheong in Gan * Tsan and Tsaon among Wu Chinese varieties such as Shanghainese; * Cheong in

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

* Tjang, Tjiong, Tjon, or Tjong in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Derivatives

* As the

Hanja Hanja (; ), alternatively spelled Hancha, are Chinese characters used to write the Korean language. After characters were introduced to Korea to write Literary Chinese, they were adapted to write Korean as early as the Gojoseon period. () ...

of the Korean surname romanized as Jang or Chang () * As the

Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

for the Japanese surname romanized as Chō * As the Hán Tự for the Vietnamese surname Trương or Trang * Derived as Canggih, Candra, Hidayat, Irawan, Jaya, Prasetya, Sutiono, or other Indonesianized surnames among Chinese Indonesians

Distribution

* 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. As mentioned above, is the third-most-common surname in

, making up 6.83% of the population of the People's Republic of China. In 2019 it was the most common surname in exactly one provincial-level division,

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

municipality. In Taiwan, 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. 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; "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 Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

's Registered Persons Database of Canadian health card recipients.

History

Characters

combines the

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

(''gōng'', "bow") and ( simp. , ''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 (

Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...

: ''*C. traŋ'') is rooted in Chinese legend. The fifth son of the Yellow Emperor, Qing Yangshi (), had a son Hui () who was inspired by the Heavenly Bow

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

(, ''Tiān Gōng Xīng'') to invent the bow and arrow. Hui was then promoted to "First Bow" (, ''Gōng Zhèng'') and bestowed the surname , whichwhen broken into its constituent radicalsmeans "widening bow" or "archer". Its Middle Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as ''Trjang''.

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 Wei () was one of the major Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic states in China during the Three Kingdoms period. The state was established in 220 by Cao Pi based upon the foundations laid by his father Cao Cao during the end of the Han dy ...

during

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

period. Zhāng Liao's family had changed from '' Nie'' to ''Zhang'' to avoid association with his disgraced ancestor Nie Yi (聶壹).(本聶壹之後，以避怨變姓。) * 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 Zhuge Liang () (181September or October 234), also commonly known by his courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman, strategist, and inventor who lived through the End of the Han dynasty, end of the Eastern Han dynasty ( 184–220) and t ...

, the prime minister of Shu.

References

{{surname, Zhang Chinese-language surnames Individual Chinese surnames