Kong

Family name origins & meanings

• Korean : There are two Chinese characters for the surname Kong. One of these is borne by only one clan, the other by two clans. One of the Kong clans claims Confucius as its ancestor, the 53rd ancestor of Confucius having migrated from his home in China to Koryŏ and settled in Ch’angwŏn, where his grave can still be seen today. The other two Kong clans, the Kimhae Kong and the Munch’ŏn Kong clans both sprang from descendants of a famous T’ang Chinese scholar, Kong Yun-po. A man named Kong Myŏng-nye founded the Kimhae Kong clan when he was exiled to Kimhae during the reign of Chosŏn King Sŏngjong in the latter half of the fifteenth century. The founder of the Munch’ŏn Kong clan, Kong Chin-ŏn, was banished to Munchŏn in Hamgyŏng province during the reign of Chosŏn King Sejong during the first half of the fifteenth century.
• Chinese : Cheng Tang was the first king of the Shang dynasty, founded in 1766 bc. Although now known as Cheng Tang, his surname was Zi, and he had a ‘style name’ (given around age 20) of Tai Yi. Later descendants of his combined the character for Zi with the character for Yi, creating the character for Kong, and adopted the latter as their surname. The Con in ‘Confucius’ represents this surname.
• Chinese : variant of Jiang 1.
• Chinese : variant of Gong 1.
• Cambodian : unexplained.
• Danish : nickname from Danish kong ‘king’, or occupational nickname for someone in the service of the king.