Chinese surname · rank 243
农
农 is read as nóng.
nóng
Simplified 农 · Traditional 農
agriculture, farming; farmer
Earth
Time: Traditional Shennong account, Zhou-Spring-Autumn agricultural-office account, Northern-Southern dynasties record layer, and later Guangxi Zhuang/Nong development layer; Northern and Southern dynasties record layer, 420-589 CE
Place: Yanmen commandery around today's Dai County, Shanxi; Guangxi Zhuang/Nong communities including later Guangxi surname concentration
Origin note
is treated as a layered surname rather than a single-founder claim. One traditional line links the surname to Shennong: descendants connected with a grain-growing clan are said to have used the clan name Nong. A second line is occupational or official-title based: Zhou and Spring-Autumn sources describe agricultural officers such as Nongzheng or Nong Dafu, and later Han offices such as Nong Duwei; some descendants are said to have taken the office name as a surname. A southern ethnic-name layer is also important: Wikipedia explains that Nong, also written in some contexts, is associated with Zhuang self-naming and Guangxi-area communities. These lines are presented as parallel traditions because the sources do not reduce Nong to one exclusive origin.
Historical figures
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