The earliest Ong (or rather "Onge"!) records: 1280 & 1283 AD.

"Where is your name from?"  That is a question we Ongs of European ancestry have to answer all of our lives.  Many different answers - from guesswork - have been given over the years if not centuries.  But the only correct answer is that the Ongs are from England.  In fact the Ongs are more English than the Queen, as our family name can be traced back over 730 years based on tax, legal and other records to the late 13th century in the English county of Suffolk, part of the region called East Anglia.  The earliest records place the family in one particular small village in northwestern Suffolk called Barningham which lies 11 miles northeast of Bury St. Edmunds.

                                    (Photo: St. Andrew's Church, Barningham (14th/15th c.))

The earliest record of the family name is in a land tenure record for St Edmundsbury Abbey which owned most of the land in western Suffolk.  Based on the evidence of the more prominent people for whom other data exists we can date this document to ca. 1280.   In the listings for Barningham we find the following entry:

"Willemus Onge cum parcenariis suis tenet iiij acras terre de Nicholao de Wykes per seruicium xxvijd, et idem Nicholaus de Eustachio de Bernyngham per seruicium vjd, et idem E. de Abbate Sancti Edmundi."

Translated from the Latin this says that William Onge with his partners holds four acres from Nicholas of Wykes for 27 pence rent of which Nicholas pays 6 pence rent to Eustace of Barningham, who in turn pays the same to the Abbot of St. Edmunds.  This is one of 28 entries for Barningham and the rent paid per acre is higher than the average.

The family can then be seen again in the 1283 Lay Subsidy Roll for the Blackbourne Hundred, a county-subdivision including 30 or so parishes in northwestern Suffolk including Barningham.  This record relates to a tax of 1/30th of all moveable property which was recorded in great detail for each owner.  This particular tax was charged by King Edward I ("Longshanks") to help finance the Welsh War of 1282-83 which had cost 90,000 pounds and had drained the royal exchequer.  (The tax was actually repaying loans made to the King by merchants from Lucca in Italy.  This war ended with the death of the last Celtic Prince of Wales.)  Remarkably, the Lay Subsidy (the tax's formal name) Roll for the Blackbourne Hundred in Suffolk is the only one in England to have survived.

Of the 55 entries for Barningham, three relate to Ongs (who are part of a minority with recognizable surnames).  The entries for their property and value are as follows (translated from Latin):

W. Honge (= William Onge):
1 quarter + 1 bushel (=9 bs.) rye = 4s 6d
3 quarters barley = 12s
3 quarters peas = 9s
1 chicken = 1s
2 cows = 6s 11d
1 young ox = 1s
1 bull calf = 5d
4 piglets = 1s 3d
3 sheep = 3s
2 lambs = 8d
Total value = £1 19s 9d; Tax 1s 4d

I. Honge (= John? James? Onge): 4 bushels rye = 2s
3 quarters barley = 12s
2 bushels oats = 6d
1 quarters + 4 bushels peas = 4s 6d
1 plough-horse = 4s
3 cows = 12s 6d
1 young ox = 1s
1 bull calf = 8d
2 piglets = 1s
3 sheep = 3s
2 lambs = 8d
Total value = £2 1s 10d; Tax 1s 5d

Ad. Honge (= Adam Onge): 1 quarter rye = 4s
4 quarters 4 bushels barley = 18s
2 quarters peas = 6s
4 bushels beans = 1s 8d
1 pack-horse = 3s
1 heifer = 2s
1 bull calf = 8d
6 sheep = 6s
2 lambs = 8d
Total value = £2 2s; Tax 1s 5d
The total tax paid by village was £3 11s 3½d.  (Note: £1=20shillings(s); 1s=12 pence(d); £1=240d)

I would guess the other two Onges are likely the partners ("parcenari") of William Onge mentioned in the land register and are likely brothers or cousins of William.  The Onge family lived in Barningham continually from this time until the death of Robert Onge who died without issue in 1678, although by this time the family name had spread throughout western Suffolk and adjoining counties.

Edgar Powell's 1910 scholarly edition of these two medieval documents can be found here: https://archive.org/details/cu31924030265528