Yong (name)


Yong is a family name used in Korea, as well as a character in some Korean given names. It may also mean sun in some cases. As a family name, it may also be spelled Ryong in Korea. It is of Sino-Korean origin.

As a family name

Most hanja with the reading Yong are pronounced that way in all dialects of Korean. However, the character used to write the family name, is also read as Ryong and spelled as such in hangul. This is the standard reading in North Korea and among Koreans in China. In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on a sample of year 2007 applications for South Korean passports, it was found that 97% of people with this surname chose to have it spelled it in Latin letters as Yong, while 3% chose to spell it Young, and none spelled it Ryong.
Yong is one of the 100 most common given names in China
The 2000 South Korean Census found 14,067 people and 4,320 households with this family name. They identified with the following bon-gwan :
  • Hongcheon : 12,733 and 3,930 households
  • Gaeseong : 439 people and 130 households
  • Suwon : 264 people and 72 households
  • Gwangju : 206 people and 59 households
  • Yongin : 174 people and 54 households
  • Paju : 164 people and 54 households
  • Other or unreported bon-gwan: 87 people and 21 households

People with this family name include:

In given names

Yong is an element in some given names. The meaning differs based on the hanja used to write it. There are 24 hanja with the reading "yong" and one with the reading "ryong" on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be used in given names; common ones are listed in the table above.

People

;People from South Korea with the single-syllable given name Yong or Ryong include:

As name element

Names containing this element include:
;First syllable
;Second syllable