Tang
A surname with several possible roots, most often explained as a short nickname or as an Asian family name rendered in English spelling.
The #999 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 8,831 Americans shares it.
Etymology
For English and Norman bearers, the name is likely to have been a short nickname or a reduced form of an older personal name, though the old surname dictionaries are not consistent about the exact source. Some also connect it with a word for a pointed or cutting tool, while others treat it as an abbreviated form of a medieval given name. Separately, Tang is also a common Chinese surname, but the excerpted historical sources here do not identify which Chinese character or lineage is intended.
History
In medieval English records, forms like le Tang appear only rarely, suggesting a small local surname rather than a major family name. Later surname books link similar forms to several different continental and Germanic naming traditions, which shows that the spelling was used for more than one origin. In modern English-speaking countries, many bearers of Tang are of Chinese ancestry, so the surname often has independent origins in Europe and East Asia.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Tang can arise from both European nickname traditions and Chinese family names, the same spelling may belong to completely unrelated families.
From the historical record
“Haitfa]eYnnge,co.O]i{;ii7!- A- R^pb le YonVc. <»■ ^uff.. ibid. WiUiam le Tang^ co. MoRbaaib^ .yGooglc”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances