Explore the Family Name Pong

The meaning of Pong

1. Chinese: Cantonese form of the surnames 龐 and 逄, see Pang 1 and 2. 2. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 彭, see Peng 1. 3. Chinese: possibly from Cantonese form of the Chinese name 邦 (meaning ‘state’), a monosyllabic personal name or part of a disyllabic personal names of some early Chinese immigrants in the US. 4. Korean: there are two Chinese characters for the surname Pong, but only one is common enough to warrant treatment here. Some records indicate that there are 19 Pong clans, but only the clans of Kanghwa and Haŭm can be documented as legitimate clans. The majority of the Pong clan lives in either Hwanghae Province or Kyŏnggi Province. According to legends, an old woman walking along the beach in Haŭm district of Kwanghwa found a stone box floating on the water. Inside was an extraordinary baby boy, whom she presented to Koryŏ king Injong in 1107. The king named the baby Pong-u and raised him within the precincts of his court. Pong-u’s descendants continued to live in the Haŭm area, and the clan came to be known as the Haŭm Pong clan. The founding ancestor of the Kanghwa Pong clan is unknown, and there is speculation that perhaps the Kanghwa Pong clan is in fact descended from the Haŭm Pong clan. Some characteristic forenames: Chinese Hing, Chu, Chun, Fong, Kil Yong, Kin, Ling, Mi Hwa, Sen, Sheng, Shing, Wai Fong.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.