Chinese surname · rank 290
荆
荆 is read as jīng.
jīng
Simplified 荆 · Traditional 荊
thorns; brambles; my wife; cane
Earth
Time: Western Zhou and Spring-and-Autumn Jing/Chu state tradition, early Han Jing marquisate layer, Qin-Han-Northern-dynasties northern record, Five Dynasties and Song figure record, and Song Baijiaxing rank 399 layer; Western Zhou tradition, 1046-771 BCE
Place: Jing/Chu regional tradition around Hubei and the wider Jing-Chu area; Guangling/Jiangdu/Yangzhou in Jiangsu; Jing River near Zhucheng, Shandong; Lu, Yu, Jin, Shaan, Pingling/Xianyang, Yishi/Hedong, Qinshui/Shanxi, Xindu/Hebei, and Longxi commandery traditions
Origin note
Jing is read jing as a surname. The main source-backed layer is a state-name tradition: early Chu was also called Jing, and later explanations connect some Jing families with descendants who used the old state or regional name. 23mofang adds a separate early-Han layer, the Jing marquisate with its seat at Guangling, today's Yangzhou area, later renamed Wu. A third layer is geographical rather than dynastic: a Jing River near modern Zhucheng, Shandong, may have supplied a water-name origin for some families. Other branches are reported as minority sinicized surnames or changed surnames. The entry keeps these as parallel surname layers, because the sources support several possible routes rather than one universal founder.
Historical figures
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