Wong Clan Genealogy

Recently, my cousin came to visit us and bringing with him a huge red hard cover book measuring 4 inches in thickness. It is our Wong Clan genealogical record, also known as the Jia Pu, Zu Pu or Zhong Pu. The Zu Pu is a record of a clan's history and lineage. It documents the origins of the surname, the migration patterns of the clan, the family lineage, the ancestral biography, the ancestral locality, birth and marriage records, honours and achievements, etc.

Flipping through the Zu Pu makes me in awe of my Wong Clan ancestry. I am the 34th generation of the Wong clan. The 1st generation started in 854 A.D.! That's a total of 1156 years in between! Mind you, we are only the descendants from a particular branch of the Wong clan. There will be other branches of the Wong clan that dates back even further.

I am really proud to be a Wong. Once a Wong, always a Wong. :)

Colourful Name

I am very appreciative of the fact that my surname or last name is that of a colour. A bright, sunny and cheerful colour at that too. :P My surname/ last name is Wong, 黄 (pronounced as Huang in mandarin), Yellow literally! It also means sulfur, colour of the earth and the symbol of royalty. :) There aren't many Chinese surnames/ last names that are of colours - 朱 (vermilion, pronounced as Zhu), 金 (gold, pronounced as Jin), 蓝 (blue, pronounced as Lan), 白 (white, pronounced as Bai). As such, I personally feel it is quite unique to have a colour as my surname lol.

Some information from Wikipedia about Wong/ Huang/ 黃:
While Huáng is the romanisation of the word, it may also be romanised as Houang, Hoang, Wong, Vong, Hung, Hong, Bong, Eng, Ng, Uy, Wee, Oi, Oei or Ooi, Ong, Hwang, or Ung due to pronunciations of the word in different dialects and languages. The surname is known as Hoàng or as Huỳnh in Vietnamese, and Hwang, Whang in Korean.

The use of Wong (黃; pinyin: Huáng) as a surname started in 648 BC when the Huang Kingdom located in Henan Province of China was sacked. The citizens chose to adopt the name of the Kingdom as their surname in remembrance of their origin. From Henan, they dispersed all over China and eventually to all corners of the globe. It is said to be among the top seven most common surname in China and one of the most common surnames in the world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Do you know the origin and history of your surname? It might be fun to find out. :)