Wang (surname)

This article is about Wang as a surname. See Wang for other uses.

Chinese surname

Wang (王 in pinyin: Wáng; in Jyutping: Wong4) is one of the most common Chinese family names. In a 2002 study, Wang was ranked second most common in mainland China, accounting for 7.4% of the population. It literally means “king” (see Chinese noble#Wang), although bearing the name has no royal implications. The “-ang” sound in pinyin is supposed to be pronounced as in German, and so the name is frequently mispronounced by American English speakers as IPA [wæŋ], rather than [waŋ], its correct pronunciation. The name is also frequently transliterated “Wong” especially for people from Hong Kong or from Guangdong. This other transliteration sounds much more similar to the Chinese pronunciation.

Wang is also the pinyin transliteration of 汪 (pinyin Wāng), a less common surname among the Hundred Family Names.

It is also the Cantonese Romanization of some uncommon family names: 橫 (Pinyin: Héng), 弘 (Hóng), 閎 (Hóng), 宏 (Hóng).

Korean surname

Wang is a Korean family name 왕 but fairly rare in Korea. According to the South Korean census of 2000, in that year 23,447 people bearing the Wang surname were living in the country. [1]

Wang was one of most powerful clans in the Chinese commanderies on the Korean Peninsula. According to the Houhanshu, its ancestor Wang Zhong originally lived in Qi (Shandong) in the 2nd century B.C.E., but fled to Lelang when the Prince of Qibei revolted against the Han Dynasty. The Wang clan flourished in the Lelang commandery, and seems to have contributed to the cultural development of subsequent kingdoms.

Although it was the Goryeo royal family name, Wang is very rare today. It is said that when Goryeo fell, people called Wang changed their surname to avoid severe persecution from the succeeding Joseon Dynasty. The Kaesong Wang lineage traces its ancestry to the Goryeo rulers.

Japanese surname

Ō (often romanized as “Oh” or “O”) is a rare Japanese family name which is the equivalence of Wang. Ō is the way Japanese pronounce the character 王. Most Japanese with this family name are of Chinese descent.

Prominent people with the family name 왕

• The royal family of the Goryeo Dynasty

Prominent people with the family name Wang 王

Note: people with the family name “Ō” are listed in the “Ō” article.

• Allan Wang, Co-developer and inventor of the browser RPG Talluria
• An Wang, computer scientist who founded Wang Laboratories
• Wang An-shih, politician during the Song Dynasty.
• Wang Chien-shien, politician of the Republic of China
• Wang Chung, general during the Three Kingdoms period
• Wang Ch'ung (27–97 C.E.), Chinese philosopher
• Wang David, former Chinese ambassador to Australia.
• Wang Dao, stateman and chief advisor of Emperor Yuan of Jin China
• Wang Dun, ambitious militant of the Eastern Jin Dynasty
• Empress Dowager Wang, mother of Emperor Cheng of Han China and aunt of Wang Mang
• Wang Fanxi, Trotskyist
• Wang Fu-zi (1619–1693 C.E.) Chinese philosopher
• Wang Guangya, UN ambassador
• Wang Mang, founder of Xin Dynasty
• Wang Meng, chief advisor of Fu Jian.
• Wang Pi, Taoist philosopher during the Three Kingdoms
• Wang Shizhen, Yuan Shikai's Beiyang subordinate
• Wang Tao, (1828–1897) Reformer, political essayist, newspaper publisher, fiction writer
• Vera Wang, designer
• Wayne Wang, movie director
• Winston Wong, Taiwanese businessman
• Wang Xizhi, calligrapher during the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
• Wang Yan, stateman and Taoist philosopher during the Western Jin Dynasty.
• Wang Yung-ching, influential businessman
• Wang Zhaojun, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China
• Faye Wong, singer
• Wong Kar-wai, movie director

Prominent people with family name 汪

• Wang Jingwei, politician of early Republic of China
• Wang Daohan, politician of the People's Republic of China and president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits

Fictional characters

• Wang Shizhen, a character in Hikaru no Go
• Amy Wong, a character from Futurama