The family name “Liang” is the 21st most common Chinese surname and has taken many forms since its inception 2600 years ago. (See Shi Ji extracts of). The many dialects of the Chinese Provinces have resulted in a myriad of pronunciations, some of which have become completely dissimilar with the others. This was further complicated with the representation of the name using the English Alphabet. The various forms would have resulted in a total dichotomy of the surnames if not for the unity of the Chinese written language. The character for the surname, remains the same whichever way it is pronounced.

The official Hanyu-pinyin form is “Liang2”. The 2 represents the second sound of the four sounds associated with each Chinese Character. This is the official form and pronunciation for the surname in China. In most of the various dialects of China, the surname is still generally pronounced as "lian|". The Beijing, Jinan, Xian, Suzhou and Chaozhou all use this form. Other dialects such as the Hankou, Chendu and Shuangfeng pronounce a variant, "nian|". Others include "lia_~" in Taiyuan. "li" in Wenzhou. "nian" in Changsha. "lio|n|" in Nanchang, Meixian and Xiamen. "luo|n|" in Fuzhou.
(See Chinese Dialects.)

However, it is in the overseas Chinese population where many written dialect forms emerge. The settling of Chinese migrants, either through trade or through flight from turmoil, all over the world has resulted in pockets of similar dialect speaking Chinese communities. Most of these overseas communities originated from the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi and Fujian. The traditional dialects of the majority of the people in these provinces are Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka and Hainanese.

The Cantonese in Hong Kong take up the spelling of “Leung”, following the Cantonese pronunciation "lo"_n|" for the "Liang" Chinese character. This is also the prevailing spelling format for most overseas Chinese communities in the Chinatowns of the Western world. This is because the majority of these people originate from Hong Kong and the surrounding Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province. However, with the Cantonese in Malaysia and Singapore, the “Liang” is spelt as “Leong”, with the “u” substituted with the “o”.

The Hokkien pronunciation is “Liang” or “Nion”, both in a lower level (Yang Ping) tone. This form can be found in the Hokkien communities of northern Malaysia and in Singapore. The Hokkiens traditionally are from the vicinity of Xiamen, Fuzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian Province, neighboring the Taiwan Straits.

The Teochew community in Malaysia and Singapore, pronounce and use the surname "Liang" or “Neoh”. The Teochews are from the region around the City of Shantou, in the prefecture of Chaozhou of Eastern Guangdong Province, neighboring Fujian Province.

The Hakka pronunciation for the surname is “Leong,” similar to that of the Cantonese, but pronounced with a slightly different accent.

The Hainanese pronounce the name as "Leo". The Hainanese are from the island of Hainan in the southern most tip of China.

Recently, we've been contacted by someone from Peru with the surname "León". The Liang surname is represented by the surname "León" there, a result of the translation into Spanish. The community is a small community, mostly originating from Guangdong Province.

The surname doesn't only exist within the Chinese community and culture. The Japanese and the Koreans also carry the surname. This is not unusual since the Japanese Kanji and the old Korean text are Chinese in origin. The Liang family name is pronounced as "Ryou" in Japanese, while with the Koreans, the name is pronounced as "Lyang".

The Vietnamese and Cambodians also share a similar linguistic background from the Chinese. The Northern part of Vietnam is known as Annam. The ancient Annamese share a similar written character set with that of the ancient Chinese. Vietnamese and Cambodian was only converted to the English alphabet during the French colonization of Indochina. Because of this, the Liangs have "cousins" in Vietnam and Cambodia under the name Luong and Loeung respectively, but both pronounced as "Lu'o\'ng".
(See Dylan's Chinese Writing and its Influence.)

There is one reference which was found at the Yutopian Enterprises website which gives this comment to the Liang surname - "The Conquerors of the West".

We are not sure where this reference is from or what it means, but are currently trying to research it.