Bai Jia Xing compound surname #14
公冶
公冶 is read as Gōngyě. It is one of the 60 compound surnames in the expanded Bai Jia Xing sequence.
Pinyin
Gōngyě
Script forms
Simplified and traditional 公冶
Meaning
ancestral style-name surname from Gongye
Five element
Metal
Origin
Time: Eastern Zhou / Spring and Autumn, 770-476 BCE
Place: State of Lu, Shandong
Origin
公冶 is commonly traced to the Ji clan of Lu. A Lu figure Ji Ye, styled Gongye, served in the aristocratic order, and descendants took the style name as a surname.
Name meaning
The surname preserves an elite ancestral style name. Gongye Chang, a disciple and son-in-law of Confucius, gives it a Confucian association.
Historical figures
公冶长
Gongye Chang is remembered as a disciple and son-in-law of Confucius, giving Gongye a Confucian classical association.