洪氏

「洪」源出：

一、为避仇而改姓。据《元和姓纂》所载，本姓共氏。西周时有太叔受封于共国（在今河南省辉县），称为共伯。春秋时，共国被卫国所灭，其后有共氏。在唐朝以前，部分"共"氏家族因避仇逃难而改为"洪"氏。

二、为避讳而改姓。据《通志·氏族略·以国为氏》所载，豫章有弘氏（一说宏氏）因避宋朝讳而改为同音的"洪"氏。又，曲阿（今江苏省丹阳县）弘氏也因避讳改姓洪氏。

The Chinese Surname pronounced as [ANG] or [HONG] or [HUNG] is actually the same word in Chinese [洪] which means flood or massive water. This group or clan of [洪] is ethnically from the Fujian province of China. So how one Chinese word can be pronounced differently is due to the different dialects. In Hokkien/Minnan the word [洪] is pronounced as [ANG], while in Cantonese it is pronounced as [HUNG] or [HOONG] and lastly Mandarin it would be pronounced as [HONG] (notice the single O instead of U or double O). So in case you happen to have the said Surname, then most likely you're a descendant of the [洪] Clan :)

Most of the [洪] are pronounced as [ANG] because they speak Hokkien, duhh.. and they adopted the same Sound & Pronounciation in their English/Romanized Names. For instance I introduce myself as "Mr Ang" if I speak in English, while my Chinese friends who speaks mandarin would call me "Mr Hong". Whatever it is, I'm a proud member of the [洪]. Most of the ANGs are in the Southeast Asian region due to mass migration of the Chinese towards South Asia, they are known as the "Oversea Chinese" or "Hua Qiao". You can find a lot of ANGs in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. While in Taiwan and Hong Kong they call themselves HONG or HUNG. Most of the descendants of ANGs still carry this Surname but for country like Thailand, they have adopted the local names but still include the surname for example "Monruedee Angkurawanich".

So by now we should all know that ANG, HONG, HUNG is actually the same Chinese Surname [洪]. Let us explore some of the Historical facts on the origins of this Clan (source from Yutopian)

The origin of Hong can be traced back to the surname Jiang. In ancient China, a tribe known as Gong Gong Shi (the union, combined labor) were the descendents of Yan Di (Shen Nong Shi), and bore the last name Jiang. They resided on the west-coast of the Yellow River, and were experts in irrigation and flood control. The Gong Gong Shi were thus made Officials of Irrigation and were hailed as the 'gods of water'. After Huang Di seized power from Yan Di, the descendents of the latter were often oppressed, leading to the discontent of the Gong Gong Shi, who eventually rebelled against the government during the reign of Di Gao. Di Ku(descendent of Huang Di) gathered his army against the rebellion, among them was the descendents of Sui Ren Shi who invented fire. The 'gods of fire' thus fought against the 'gods of water' at the Battle of Bei Zhou Shan with the Gong Gong Shi being defeated badly. After the rebellion was suppressed, the Gong Gong Shi were given back their old position. However, during the reign of Yao Di, the Gong Gong Shi got themselves into trouble again by not cooperating with the government, leading to widespread of flooding. Yao led his army and defeated the Gong Gong Shi again. Due to past experience, Yao did not spare the rebellion and exiled the Gong Gong Shi to JiangNan. Due to their affiliation with water, their descendents added the water radical to the Chinese character of Gong and called themselves the Hongs.

Hometown: Dun Huang of Gansu also JiangXi of Nanchang.

There are also unknown sources mentioning the original Chinese word for ANG is without 3 strokes (water) as KONG [共]. But due to some offenses, the Clan escapes from being hunted by the Imperial by adding 3 additional strokes to form the word ANG or HONG [洪] in emergency. As you have known during ancient China, anyone who offends the Emperor will have his family and clans killed. KONG was one of them