Ouyang is a Chinese surname. It is the most common two-character Chinese compound surname, being the only two-character name of the 400 most common Chinese surnames, according to a 2013 study.

Variations/transliterations

History

The Song dynasty historian Ouyang Xiu traced the Ouyang surname to Ti (蹄, pinyin: Tí), a prince of Yue, the second son of King Wujiang (無疆). After his state was extinguished by the state of Chu, Ti and his family lived in the south side of the Mount Ouyu (歐余山, currently called Mount Sheng 升山 in Huzhou, Zhejiang). In Classical Chinese, the south side of a mountain or the north bank of a river is called Yang (陽), thus the Ti family was called Ouyang. He was called Marquis of Ouyang Village (歐陽亭侯). Traditionally, Ti's ancestry can be traced through his father Wujiang, the King of Yue, to the semi-legendary Yu the Great (大禹). According to a 2013 study, Ouyang was the 169th most common name in China, being shared by around 910000 people or 0.068% of the total population, with the province with the most people with the name being Hunan.

Geographical origins

In terms of distribution Ouyangs have mostly been confined to southern China, especially the areas of southern Jiangxi, central Hubei and eastern Henan, with smaller pockets in Guangdong, Sichuan, Hunan and Guangxi.

Notable clans

The most prominent of the Ouyang clans historically was undoubtedly that of Yongfeng in Jiangxi, which produced a number of scholars who reached prominence in the imperial bureaucracy. Genealogical lineages and family trees have been established for a number of Ouyang clans around China, showing migration patterns from the Song to the Qing dynasty. In Vietnam, this clan was often shortcut as Âu (歐), Dương (阳) or Dương/Giàng (陽).

Notable people

Culture

By Vietnamese scholars, 歐陽 may be an origin of words văn-lang (minang / 文郎), mê-linh (maleng / 麊泠), âu-lạc (urang, orang, anak / 甌雒, 甌駱) and an-dương (arang / 安陽) what means "people" or "country" in ancient Tai and Malayo-Polynesian languages.