Yang (surname)

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Yang is the transcription of the Chinese family name 楊/杨. It is the 6th most common surname in Mainland China.

Contents

[edit] The Yang Character and totem

Yang clan totem
Yang clan totem

The YANG character is a derivative from the word for "Sunlight." However, a search in any dictionary reveals it to be a type of tree such as a poplar or a willow tree. The character is composed of two parts, the left part means wood referring to a type of tree in ancient myth used to measure the height of the sun thereby establishing the calendar. The second part on the right hand side of the character is a graphic description of "the sun rising over Tanggu" (the place in ancient myth where the sun rose). In Tanggu there was a type of large lizard in the water, now known as a dragon, also called a thunder-beast. That is why Tanggu was represented by the character yi [second character in the ‘large lizard’ cited above], pronounced yang, and its master was Fu Xi (the founding ancestor of mankind in ancient myth, aka Xi He), and its heavenly almanac was called the Book of Changes (Yijing) (the yi character is the same as the right-hand component of the lizard character and the Yang family character)

Yang can also be the phonetic translation of a very rare Chinese family name 羊, which is the Chinese character for Goat or Sheep.

The Yang clan was founded by Yang Boquiao the second son of prince Jinwu in the Springs and Autumns Period (c. 8th to 5th Centuries BC) who was enfeoffed in the Yang kingdom.

Yang Boquiao
Yang Boquiao

[edit] Four Wisdoms

"Four Wisdoms" (Si Zhi)
"Four Wisdoms" (Si Zhi)

Some branches of the Yang clan have adopted the "Four Wisdoms" (Si Zhi) as a family motto. This originates from a story from the dynasty of Hou Han (206 B.C. to A.D. 220). Yang Zhen served as Jing Zhou prefect. A village magistrate named Wang Mi requested audience with Yang Zhen after nightfall and offered Yang 6 kg of gold ingots with the hope of promotion. Yang rejected the gift. Wang Mi persevered mentioning that nobody would know. Yang retorted "Heaven knows, Earth knows, I know and you know." Descendents of Yang Zhen adopted "Si Zhi" (Four-knows or four wisdoms) as the title of their clan hall.

[edit] Other variations of the Yang surname (e.g. alternative regional pronunciations)

  • Yahng
  • Yeo (Hokkien, Singapore)
  • Yeung (Cantonese, notably Hong Kong)
  • Yio
  • Yong
  • Young
  • Yeong
  • Yeoh (Hokkien, Malaysian, teochew, notably Penang)
  • Eav
  • Eaw
  • Ieong (Cantonese, notably Macau - Portuguese pronunciation)
  • Dương (Vietnamese)
  • Jong
  • Yaaj (in the Green Hmong dialect)
  • Yaj (in the White Hmong dialect)
  • Ngeo (Peranakan pronunciation)
  • Yoo/Yu (from Philippines)

[edit] Notable people with family name Yang

[edit] External links