I believe the shortest surname is "Ng." What is the origin of that name?

Question

I believe the shortest surname is "Ng." What is the origin of that name?

Question #50724. Asked by chaddies.

Baloo55th
Answer has 2 votes

Baloo55th
22 year member
4545 replies avatar

Answer has 2 votes.

There's supposed to be one single letter surname in the UK, but the authorities won't say what. Believed to be 'O'. 'Ng' can also be spelt 'Ong' to make it easier to pronounce. Probably Chinese rather than Vietnamese - quite a few references at

http://search.freefind.com/find.html?lang=en&id=267063&pageid=r&query=ng There used to be a fair Chinese population in Vietnam, so it could have travelled there.

Sep 02 2004, 5:04 AM

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Answer 1

Stew54
Answer has 2 votes

Stew54
22 year member
530 replies

Answer has 2 votes.

That rings a bell, Baloo.

There are a few Chinese surnames that transliterate as two lettered: Li and Ji are two I have encountered. I think Ng is a Cantonese name, equivalent to Wu in Mandarin, but I'm not sure what it means.

Sep 02 2004, 5:19 AM

Answer 2

Technically it's not the shortest by one letter. There are also many two letter names, eg Li, Lo etc from China. But O in France is the record, and has it's own dukedom.

This is where he used to live in Paris

http://online.allrez.com/hotdesc.asp?hID=uko311&cid=sacos