The Rong Surname
Rong Name Meaning and History
- Norwegian: habitational name from a farm name in Hordaland related to rong ‘stern (of a boat)’.
- Chinese
: there are two sources of this surname. One is Rong Cheng,
a senior minister to Emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc), who
is credited with the invention of the Chinese calendar. A second
source is the title of an official who was in charge of ceremonial
music, rongguan, during the Zhou dynasty (1122–221
bc). - Chinese
: from the name of another
senior minister to the Emperor Huang Di (2697–2595 bc),
called Rong Yuan. A second source of the surname written with this
character is a city called Rong, which was granted to a minister of
the Zhou dynasty king Cheng Wang (1115–1078 bc). - Chinese
: when the state of Zhou overthrew the corrupt
and brutal last king of the Shang dynasty, Zhou Xin, to establish the
Zhou dynasty in 1122 bc, the son of Zhou Xin was granted the
area of the former Shang capital. The Zhou believed that, in order to
obtain the mandate of heaven necessary to rule, they had to grant
lands and titles to the principal descendants of the great emperors of
the past, even if that meant granting lands to the progeny of their
enemies. Zhou Xin’s son rose in revolt against the new rulers and was
killed. To replace him with another descendant of the Emperor Cheng
Tang, the Zhou this time chose Zhou Xin’s elder half-brother, who was
regarded as a virtuous man and who had attempted to curb Zhou Xin’s
excesses; he was granted the title Duke of Song, but is usually known
as Wei, Viscount of Song. Chinese sources state that the surname Rong
was used by his ancestors, but do not indicate its origin. The Rong
were a non-Chinese people living on the border of Chinese territories
during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and this may be the source.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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