Find out how popular the last name Zheng is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Zheng.

Zheng, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Zheng surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Zheng in America

Zheng is the 1409th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Zheng surname appeared 25,242 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 9 people would have the surname Zheng.

We can also compare 2010 data for Zheng to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Zheng

The surname Zheng has its origins in China and can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). It is believed to have derived from the name of a place, possibly a village or town, in the region that is now known as Henan province. The name was initially written using different Chinese characters, but over time, the spelling standardized to the modern form.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Zheng surname can be found in historical documents from the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD). During this period, the name appeared in various government records and official registers. It is worth noting that place names and their spellings often evolved over time, so the exact origin of the Zheng surname may have been slightly different from its modern form.

Throughout Chinese history, several notable individuals have borne the Zheng surname. One of the most famous was Zheng He (1371-1433), a renowned Chinese maritime explorer who commanded voyages that reached as far as the east coast of Africa during the Ming Dynasty. Another prominent figure was Zheng Chenggong (1624-1662), also known as Koxinga, a military leader who fought against the Qing Dynasty and established the Kingdom of Tungning on Taiwan.

In the realm of literature, Zheng Xuan (127-200 AD) was a respected scholar and commentator during the Eastern Han Dynasty, known for his annotations on classical Chinese texts. Zheng Banqiao (1693-1765) was a celebrated painter and calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty, renowned for his landscape paintings and bird-and-flower compositions.

More recently, Zheng Guanying (1842-1922) was a prominent entrepreneur and reformist who played a significant role in the modernization of China's textile industry during the late Qing Dynasty and the early years of the Republic of China.

While the Zheng surname has its roots in ancient China, it has since spread to other parts of the world through Chinese diaspora communities. However, this history focuses primarily on the surname's origins and notable figures from China, where it has a long and rich heritage.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Zheng

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Zheng.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Zheng was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Zheng has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Zheng was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Zheng, please contact us.

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