Show ContentsMing History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Early Origins of the Ming family

The surname Ming was first found in Bedfordshire (Old English: Bedanfordscir), where the first record of the family was the singular Minna, listed here in the Assize Rolls of 1202. Over one hundred years later, Gostelynus Mynne was found in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk in 1327. [1]

"This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Min.' There is some evidence in favour of an old personal name Min, which was probably a nick. Minnie is still used as a girl's pet name for Emmeline. " [2]

Another researcher agrees: "This series seems to point to Minn, (the same as Mynn) as an ancient personal name." [3]

Early History of the Ming family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Ming research. Another 217 words (16 lines of text) covering the years 1094, 1184, 1327, 1429, 1492, 1541, 1549, 1550, 1558, 1563, 1564, 1571, 1572, 1585, 1587, 1588, 1595, 1598, 1599, 1603, 1608, 1609, 1615, 1623, 1625, 1642, 1665, 1666, 1671, 1748, 1793 and 1817 are included under the topic Early Ming History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ming Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Minn, Minns, Mynn, Mynns, Myn, Min, Mynne, Menne, Minnes, Ming, Ming, Mink, Menn, Mence, Minne, Meny, Mynne, Meene, Mean and many more.

Early Notables of the Ming family

Distinguished members of the family include Sir Christopher Myngs (1625-1666), English Admiral and pirate who came of a Norfolk family. It "is said by Pepys to have been of very humble origin, ‘his father being always, and at this day, a shoemaker, and his mother, a hoyman's daughter, of which he was used frequently to boast’ (Diary, 13 June 1666; cf. 26 Oct. 1665). This is certainly exaggerated, if not entirely false. His parents were of well-to-do families in the north of Norfolk. His father, John Myngs, though described in the register of Salthouse, where he was married on 28 Sept...
Another 315 words (22 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Ming Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Ming Ranking

In the United States, the name Ming is the 10,187th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. [4]


United States Ming migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Ming Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Thomas Ming, who landed in North Carolina in 1701 [5]
  • Kristoffel Ming, who landed in New York in 1709 [5]
  • Lorentz Ming, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1739 [5]
  • Marguerite Ming, who arrived in Baltimore, Maryland in 1763 [5]

Contemporary Notables of the name Ming (post 1700) +

  • Ming Wai Kong O.B.E. (b. 1974), British Senior Lawyer for Government Legal Department, was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 29th December 2018 for services to Energy Policy [6]
  • Ming Fay, American sculptor


  1. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  2. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  3. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  4. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  5. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
  6. "Birthday and New Year Honours Lists (1940 to 2019)." Issue 62507, 28 December 2018 | London Gazette, The Gazette, Dec. 2018, www.thegazette.co.uk/honours-lists


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