Last name origins & meanings:
- Chinese:
the origin of this name goes back 4500
years to a grandson of the legendary emperor Huang Di (2697–2595
bc), surnamed Hui. Hui invented bows and arrows, and was put
in charge of their production. In honor of his deeds, he was given as
surname the character pronounced Zhang, which is composed of the
symbols for ‘bow’ and ‘long’, meaning to ‘stretch open a bow’. Zhang has
now become one of the most common names in China. - Chinese:
from the name of an area called Zhang in present-day
Shandong province. During the Western Zhou dynasty (1122–771
bc) a fief was made of this area. It was later conquered by
the state of Qi; at that time the former rulers of conquered states
were not allowed to take the name of their state as their surname. The
former ruling class of Zhang fortunately were able to drop off a small
portion of the character for Zhang and still leave another character
also pronounced Zhang. This modified character became their surname.
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