Gongye

Gongye (Chinese: 公冶; pinyin: Gōngyě) is a Chinese compound surname listed in the Hundred Family Surnames. Its choronym or clan identifier (郡望) is Lu Commandery, in what is now Qufu, Shandong.^[1]

According to the Xingshi Kaolüe (姓氏考略), the surname comes from Ji Ye [zh] (季冶) of the State of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period. His courtesy name was Gongye, which his descendants adopted as a surname.^[1]

The surname was eventually simplified to Gong (公); it is one of many two-character surnames beginning with Gong (公) that were simplified to just the one character over the course of history.^[2]

Gongye Chang, a disciple of Confucius, had this surname.^[1] It was also the courtesy name of Spring and Autumn period politician Ji Ye [zh] (季冶) and Qing dynasty politician Ji Ruxi [zh] (冀如錫).