王Wáng
The character also means “king”; as a surname it is not a title or a claim of rank.
A historical connection
Wang Xizhi is remembered for calligraphy, an example of a historical bearer rather than an origin story.
The named reference here is Wang Xizhi. It gives a point of entry into history; it cannot establish the origin or genealogy of everyone who writes this surname.
A bearer can illuminate culture without defining a lineage
Wang Xizhi is associated with the celebrated Orchid Pavilion gathering and its preface. The Metropolitan Museum of Art describes how later garden art and calligraphy repeatedly returned to that scene. This makes 王 a doorway into a cultural story, not a certificate of relationship to the calligrapher.
Why this matters when choosing a name
The written character 王 also has an everyday “king” sense. In surname position it functions as a family name; translating a visitor as “King” or suggesting royal status would confuse a lexical gloss with identity.
What this evidence cannot say: Even a famous bearer whose work became a model does not establish where a present-day 王 family began, or which artistic associations a newly chosen full name will evoke.
What to check in your own name
Say the whole name aloud, including its surname/given-name boundary. Check the surname’s tone and whether the next syllable begins comfortably. If your family already uses a Chinese surname, use its own documented written form and reading instead of replacing it with an attractive historical story.
These combinations are exploration examples. Only the linked dossier’s original surname pairing has its specific editorial note; a changed surname needs fluent-speaker review.
Sources & limits
Sources support the specific facts cited above. An editorial name interpretation is not an ancient quotation or proof of family ancestry.