How common is the surname Cheng?

32,982 people in the United States had the surname Cheng in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,361 Americans. It ranked 1,063rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Cheng?

Cheng Pei-pei, American Hong Kong actress (1946–2024), followed by Chi Cheng.

Where is the surname Cheng most common?

Wikidata records people named Cheng in the United States, Republic of China and Eastern Wu and 1 other country.

How do you pronounce Cheng?

Cheng is /t͡ʃɛŋ/, one syllable.

Is the surname Cheng getting more or less common?

More common. 26,023 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 32,982 in 2010, up 27%.

The surname Cheng

A Chinese surname, carried by 32,982 people in the United States.

Pronounced /t͡ʃɛŋ/ 1 syllable Soundex C520

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Cheng is more common than 99.3% of them.

Origin

Chinese origin

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 程 (Chéng).

One of 193 Chinese surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 32,982 people named Cheng in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,361 Americans. That is up 27% since 2000, when the Census counted 26,023.

#1,063

rank among US surnames

32,982

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+26.7%

change since 2000 (was #1,238)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,054	Cooley	33,231	9,291
#1,055	Fritz	33,224	9,293
#1,056	Cooke	33,223	9,293
#1,057	Delaney	33,218	9,295
#1,059	Chaney	33,201	9,299
#1,060	Kidd	33,186	9,303
#1,061	Velasco	33,078	9,334

Who is named Cheng

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

95% of people named Cheng identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 2.2% as two or more races and 1.9% as white (not Hispanic).

Asian and Pacific Islander 95%
Two or more races 2.2%
White (not Hispanic) 1.9%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.1%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.0%

Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Famous Chengs

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Cheng Pei-pei
American Hong Kong actress (1946–2024)
Chi Cheng
American bassist (1970–2013)
Cheng Bing
3rd century Eastern Wu official, 172–225
Cheng Xuanying
7th-century Chinese Taoist monk, 631–655
Bobby Cheng
Australian chess player, born 1997
Brian Ching
American soccer player, born 1978

Notable Chengs come mostly from the United States (2), Republic of China (1) and Eastern Wu (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Cheng

Cheng has the Soundex code C520, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C520.

Other Chinese surnames

All 193 Chinese surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Cheng come from?: From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 程 (Chéng).
How common is the surname Cheng?: 32,982 people in the United States had the surname Cheng in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,361 Americans. It ranked 1,063rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Cheng?: In the 2010 Census, 95% of people named Cheng identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 2.2% as two or more races.
Who is the most famous person named Cheng?: Cheng Pei-pei, American Hong Kong actress (1946–2024), followed by Chi Cheng.
Where is the surname Cheng most common?: Wikidata records people named Cheng in the United States, Republic of China and Eastern Wu and 1 other country.
How do you pronounce Cheng?: Cheng is /t͡ʃɛŋ/, one syllable.
Is the surname Cheng getting more or less common?: More common. 26,023 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 32,982 in 2010, up 27%.
What are other spellings of Cheng?: Zheng and Ching.