Where the name comes from
The surname is traced to Cheng Bo Xiufu (程伯休父), a descendant of Chong and Li, officials of Zhuanxu's era, who served King Xuan of Zhou as Grand Marshal and was enfeoffed with the settlement of Cheng, his merits including the conquest of Xufang. His descendants took the place name as their surname. English Wikipedia places the Cheng fief in Henan with another in Shaanxi; Chinese accounts locate it east of modern Xianyang, Shaanxi, or on the Luoyang–Yanshi border in Henan.
The character
Outside a name, 程 is an ordinary word meaning rule.
- Strokes
- 12
- Radical
- 禾
- As a word
- chéng
Words built from 程
The character does ordinary work in the language too. Each of these is a real word you can look up.