Song (Chinese surname)

Song character in ancient script on top, modern script at bottom

Song is the pinyin transliteration of the Chinese family name 宋. It is transliterated as Sung in Wade-Giles, and Soong is also a common transliteration. In addition to being a common surname, it is also the name of a Chinese dynasty, the Song Dynasty, written with the same character.

History

The first written record of the character 宋 was found on the oracle bones of the Shang dynasty.

In the written records of Chinese history, the first time the character Song was used as a surname appeared in the early stage of the Zhou dynasty. One of the children of the last emperor of Shang dynasty, Wei ZiQi - (子啟), was a duke named Song. The State of Song, Song's personal dominion, became part of the Zhou dynasty after the fall of the Shang dynasty. Citizens of the former State of Song, to commemorate the overthrow of their state in 286 BC by the State of Qi, began to use the character Song as their surname.

Variations

A less common Chinese family name (崇 pinyin Chóng) can also be transliterated to Soong in some Chinese dialects.

The surname is also used in Korea.

In Vietnam, the surname is pronounced as Tống.

Notable people

Fictional characters

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.