The surname Ding means man or gardener. In Chinese, the word ding denotes a lidded vessel with legs. In ancient times, a man possessing a ding was often associated with land ownership and the power derived from this.

The earliest mention of this name, a Duke of Ding, comes from the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BC).

During the reigns of Zhou Cheng Wang and Zhou Kang Wang in the early Zhou dynasty (1115-1052 BC), there was an important judge called Qi Ding Gong. After he died, his family took his middle name for their own as a tribute to him. This same derivative path may have been from another judge from Spring and Autumn period of Zhou dynasty (770-476 BC), Song Ding Gong.

A more interesting tale comes from the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280 AD). The Sun clan founded the Eastern Wu dynasty during this troubled period after the fall of the Han. When Sun Quan was the emperor (182-252 AD), General Sun Kuang, a member of the ruling clan, somehow managed to accidentally burn up the food supply. To punish the careless general, the emperor demanded that he change his surname to Ding, so that the royal name would not be associated with such a catastrophe.


Source:
utopian.net

~Contributed by Feiyan Zhou