Yang's given name, "Kang", is the complementary of his sworn brother's "Jing". Together, their given names form "Jingkang". Their fathers and Qiu Chuji named them as such to remind them of the Jingkang Incident and to be loyal to their native land, the Song Empire. Yang Kang is also a descendant of Yang Zaixing, a Song general who participated in the Jin–Song Wars.