Jiang
姜 — Jiāng
The 54th most common surname in China
About 5.23 million people, 0.39% of the population, ranked 55th, most numerous in Shandong (Yuan Yida and Qiu Jiaru, survey of China's 400 largest surnames, Fuxi Institution, 2013); 54th most common surname in mainland China in the Ministry of Public Security's 2019 national name report.
Where the name comes from
One of the eight great surnames of high antiquity. Legend holds that the Yan Emperor, Shennong, was born beside the Jiang River (姜水) and took the water's name as his own. The historical line runs through Jiang Ziya, the strategist enfeoffed with the state of Qi, whose descendants there kept Jiang as their surname.
The same name, spelled differently
A Chinese surname is a character, not a spelling. The Latin letters on a passport come from whichever dialect the name was written down from — so these are all 姜.
- JiangMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- KeungCantonese — Hong Kong (government romanisation)
- GeungCantonese
- KeongHakka
- KiangHokkien / Min Nan
- ChiangWade–Giles — Taiwan
- KhươngSino-Vietnamese — Vietnam
- KangKorean (강)
The character
Outside a name, 姜 is an ordinary word meaning ginger.
- Strokes
- 9
- Radical
- 女
- As a word
- jiāng
Other surnames read “Jiang”
Romanised the same way, but a different character and a different family.