"Ling" is the Roman alphabet spelling of multiple Chinese surnames.
According to traditional stories, the surname pronounced Líng (凌) in Mandarin originated during the Zhou dynasty as an occupational surname for a court official responsible for the storage and handling of ice.
King Wu of Zhou's brother Kang Shu [zh] had a son who held this post, and Kang Shu's descendants later adopted Líng as their surname.
[2] People with this surname include: "Ling" may also be an Eastern Min, Northern Min, or Wu transcription of the surname pronounced in Mandarin as Lín (林).
[citation needed] The English surname Ling, also spelled Linge, may have two different origins: one from a word used in Lincolnshire meaning "heath", and the other as a toponymic surname referring to the parish of Lyng, Somerset.