Tong

Family name origins & meanings

• Chinese : variant of Tang 2.
• Chinese : variant of Tang 3.
• Chinese : from a modification of the character Zhong (). In the Xia dynasty (2205–1766 bc), there existed a senior adviser whose name was Zhonggu. Much later, in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 ad), some descendants settled along a river that became known as the Tong Family river. As the Manchus moved southwards, some took up residence by this river and they too adopted Tong as their surname.
• Chinese : from Lao Tong, the ‘style name’ given to a son of Zhuan Xu, legendary emperor of the 26th century bc. Two of his sons became important advisers to the next emperor, Ku. Some descendants of Lao Tong adopted a character from his style name as their surname.
• Chinese : see also Dong.
• English : metonymic occupational name for a maker or user of tongs (Old English tang(e)), or a habitational name from one of the places named with this word (there are examples in Lancashire, Shropshire, and West Yorkshire), from their situation by a fork in a road or river, considered as resembling a pair of tongs.
• English : topographic name for someone who lived on a tongue of land, or a habitational name from a place named with this word (Old English tunge, Old Norse tunga), for example Tonge in Leicestershire.
• Dutch : from a short form of the personal name Antonius (see Anthony). It could also be from Dutch tong ‘tongue’ and hence a nickname for a chatterbox or scold, or possibly a shortening of Van Tongeren, a habitational name for someone from Tongeren in the province of Gelderland.