It was 104th of the Hundred Family Surnames poem, contained in the verse Yáo, Shào, Zhàn, Wāng (姚邵湛汪).

A study of the 2020 census found it to be the 59th most common surname in mainland China.

[1] It is also Wong in Cantonese, Ong or Ang in Hokkien, Waung or Vong in American English, and Ō or Oh in Japanese.

[3] 汪 means "vast" in the Chinese language, and is often used to describe oceans.

[citation needed] A town called Tangwangchuan in Gansu had a multi-ethnic populace, the Tang (唐) and Wāng families predominating.