Long Family History

English and French: nickname for a tall person from Old English lang, long and Old French long ‘long, tall’ (equivalent to Latin longus). Compare Dulong and Lelong. Irish (Ulster and Munster): shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Longáin (see Langan). German: variant of Lang ‘long’ and in North America also an altered form (translation into English) of this. Native American (Navajo): translation into English and shortening of a personal name based on (or just composed of) the word nééz ‘tall, long’ (see Nez). Compare Tallman.

Chinese: Mandarin or Cantonese form of the surname 龍 meaning ‘dragon’ in Chinese: (i) from Long (龍), the name of an official during the reign of the legendary Emperor Shun (c. 23rd century BC) in charge of communications between the ordinary people and the emperor. (ii) from the surname Huan Long (豢龍 meaning ‘feeding dragons’). Dong Fu is said to have been endowed with this surname by the legendary Emperor Shun (c. 23rd century BC).

Liu Lei, who is said to have learned to feed dragons from one of Dong's descendants, was endowed with the surname Yu Long (御龍 meaning ‘driving dragons’) by one of the kings of the Xia dynasty (2070–1600 BC). (iii) The surname is borne by some families from the Zang Ge ethnic group in ancient China who lived in present-day Yunan and Guizhou provinces. (iv) The surname is also borne by members of the royal families of the ancient states of Qiemi and Yanqi (Karasahr) located in present-day Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Chinese: Mandarin or Cantonese form of the surname 隆 meaning ‘prosperous, thriving’ or ‘grand, magnificent’ in Chinese: (i) from the placename Long (隆), the name of a fief (located in present-day Shandong province) in the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). (ii) The surname is borne by some families from the Huns during the early Western Han dynasty (202 BC - 25 AD).

Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 郎 see Lang. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 農 see Nong. Cambodian: written ឡុង of Chinese origin meaning ‘dragon’ (see 5 above). Vietnamese: from the Chinese surname 龍 see 5 above.