I was astonished to learn that my surname “Yang” was the sixth most common Chinese surname. What astounded me even more was that “Yang” isn’t the only way of pronouncing it. In different Asiatic countries, the mainland Chinese surname “Yang” (“楊” in traditional characters and “杨” in simplified characters) is transcribed into “Yeung” in Hong Kong, or even “Duong” in Vietnam. Some other uncommon “Yang” are “Yeoh” and “Yong”! Each location has its own spelling and pronunciation. So if we share the same Chinese character, even if it is a different spelling or a completely different dialect, we probably had the same ancestors. How cool is that?

From the ancient times, many last names weren’t just family names. They embodied statuses of emperors, soldiers and workers. Some loyal to the kingdom or emperor at the time would change their last names to show their loyalty. Throughout time, as Asia spread out into different countries like Japan, Malaysia and Thailand, people began to change their last names to avoid conflicting with another country’s people with the same surnames. For that reason, the most popular Chinese surnames in mainland China are (in order of most popular to least) Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu, Zhou (and others). These are the 10 most popular surnames that are common everywhere, even in the U.S. They have their own variations and, of course, their own meanings as well.

“Wang” in Chinese means “king.” It transcripts into “Wong” in Cantonese and “Vuong” in Vietnamese. Other variations include “Vang,” “Ong,” “Heng,” and “Vong.” Specifically, the “Yang” surname was derived from the Zhou Dynasty around the time Confucius lived. “Yang” is written with a wood radical on the left hand side, therefore the character itself is “aspen” (a tree species) and not to be confused with the character of “goat” (which is also pronounced Yang with the same intonation). It was a name created to identify a kingdom called the Yang kingdom. The people of the Yang kingdom eventually adopted the surname and moved around the mainland, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Hong Kong and either took the name or a transcription of the name. That’s why our last name is so prevalent today.

So to answer your question -- yes, “Ching Chong Ling Long” are all different variations of the same last name, deriving from the same ancestors. Everyone’s last names perhaps can rhyme and maybe are one-syllable words, but they’re packed with meaning and variations that connect us Asiatic people together.

(If you’re curious, “Ching” is derived from “Cheng” or “Qin” depending on the intonation, the person’s ethnicity, and the person’s nationality. “Chong” comes from the popular mainland number three rank “Zhang.” “Ling” is not a surname. And “Long” is a mainland surname.)