Tong as transcribed in English however represents of a number of different Chinese surnames.

[1] Tong was also listed among the 200-most-common Chinese surnames in a 2010 survey of the Registered Persons Database of Canadian health card recipients in the province of Ontario.

Tong is a Gan romanization of the Chinese surnames Zhang (trad.

During the Shang dynasty period, Lord Zi (子) founded the state of Tong (同国) in Shaanxi of China, later the Zi (子) family used the surname Tong (同, Tóng).

According to this story, when Sima Qian was put in prison by the Emperor, his children fled.