GGood Chinese Name

Chinese surname · rank 21

郑

郑 is read as zhèng.

Pinyin

zhèng

Script forms

Simplified 郑 · Traditional 鄭

Basic meaning

ancient Zheng state name

Five element

Earth

Origin

Time: Western Zhou, around 806 BCE; surname use after Zheng's fall in the Warring States period

Place: Early Zheng fief near today's Huazhou, Shaanxi Province; later Zheng state centered on Xinzheng, Henan Province

Origin note

A major Zheng surname tradition traces the name to the Western Zhou state of Zheng. Zheng Huan Gong, a younger brother of King Xuan of Zhou, was enfeoffed at Zheng in the late Western Zhou. The early fief is associated with today's Huazhou area in Shaanxi; the Zheng ruling house later moved east and built its better-known base around Xinzheng in today's Henan. After Zheng was destroyed by Han in the Warring States period, descendants and former state people used Zheng as a surname.

Historical figures

郑玄 (Zheng Xuan)

127-200 CE · Eastern Han classical scholar

One of the most influential Han commentators on the Confucian classics, making Zheng a surname with strong scholarly associations.

郑成功 (Zheng Chenggong)

1624-1662 CE · Ming loyalist and maritime commander

Also known as Koxinga, he is remembered in late Ming and early Qing history for maritime power and the recovery of Taiwan from Dutch rule.

Sources checked