Ming Family History

English: possibly from a shortened form of Mingay from the Breton personal name Menguy (composed of the Breton elements men ‘stone’ and ki ‘dog’). The personal name was introduced to England after the Conquest by Breton followers of the Normans. Chinese: Mandarin or Cantonese form of the surname 明: (i) from the personal name Ming (明) which was the style name of Meng Ming Shi (孟明視) a famous general in the state of Qin during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). (ii) adopted as a surname during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 AD) by the Yi Dou Juan (壹鬥眷) family who were members of the Xianbei ethnic group in ancient northern China. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 閔 see Min Chinese: Teochew Hokkien or Taiwanese form of the surname 孟 see Meng These dialects can be found in eastern Guangdong Fujian and Taiwan from where many people migrated to Singapore Malaysia Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia. Chinese: possibly from Cantonese form of the Chinese names 明 (meaning ‘bright’) or 銘 (meaning ‘inscription’) or 鳴 (meaning ‘singing of birds’) which were monosyllabic personal names or part of disyllabic personal names of some early Chinese immigrants in the US.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022