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Updated July 14, 2023

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : nickname for the taller of two men with the same name, from Old English leng(ra) ‘longer’, ‘taller’, comparative of lang (see Lang).
  • German : variant of Lang.
  • Chinese : from an ancient official title, Lingguan, denoting a court official in charge of music. The character for Ling is written similarly to that for Leng (), and the surname evolved to the latter form.
  • Cambodian : unexplained.

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