Given name & surname
Wang
“king, prince”
Wang is a surname with more than one origin. It is used in English, Tagalog, and Norwegian.
Original Mandarin王
Meaning & origin
What it means
Wang is a romanization of ᠸᠠᠩ. ᠸᠠᠩ goes back to Mandarin 王, meaning “king, prince.”
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1983. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Wang through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 70
- 70 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1984
- 7 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1999. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,570 as a first name in 2020; 169,987 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Wang’s family of names
In English usage, Wang as a surname is a nickname for Hungary. In Filipino usage, Wang as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with Heng. In English usage, Wang as a surname has a related form in VANG.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Wang has relatives in 13 languages. Lines run from its Chinese roots to each of them.
16 related names in 13 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 5
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 16
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- 王Mandarin, Japanese
- Hengdoublet · Tagalog, English
- Vuongdoublet · French, English
- Wongdoublet · Tagalog, English
- Ongdoublet · Tagalog, English
- Hongequivalent
- 望equivalent
- 旺equivalent
Show 8 moreShow fewer
People named Wang
- Liu WangChinese astronautborn 1969
- Wang Haibinfencerborn 1973
- Crown Prince SohyeonKorean crown prince (1612-1645)
- Wang MingxingChinese handball playerborn 1961
- Wang Tingyunpainter (1151-1202)
- Wang SichaoChinese astonomer1937–2016
- Wang ChongChinese directorborn 1982
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Wang, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Reynald
“the king's advisor”
>99% boys
Renaud
“the king's advisor”
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Ronson
“the king's advisor”
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Rodriguez
“son of Rodrigo”
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君
“to exercise royal power; to be king; to reign”
—
Kenric
“a royal ruler” · “the champion”
>99% boys
Cerdic
“a king”
>99% boys
Rodrigues
“son of Rodrigo”
>99% boys