Young, also romanised Yeong or Yŏng, is a rare Korean family name, a single-syllable unisex Korean given name, and as a common element in two-syllable given names. It has different meanings depending on which hanja is used to write it.
As a Korean family name, Young can be written with three different hanja, indicating different lineages. According to the 2000 South Korean Census, a total of 259 people had these family names.
永 (길 영 gil yeong, meaning "eternal"): 132 people and 40 households. Reported bon-gwan (clan hometowns) included Gangnyeong, Gyeongju, and Pyeonghae. This family name was known in historical records, but had not been believed to have survived into the modern era until a 1930 survey by the Japanese colonial administration found one family with this name living in Seoul.
榮 (영화 영 yeonghwa yeong, meaning "flourishing"): 86 people and 20 households. There was one reported bon-gwan, Yeongcheon, and two people whose bon-gwan was not recorded. This character is also used to write a Chinese family name pronounced Róng.
影 (그림자 영 geurimja yeong, meaning "shadow" or "reflection"): 41 people and 15 households. There was one reported bon-gwan, Seoncheon, and one person whose bon-gwan was not recorded. Seoncheon is located in an area that became North Korean territory after the division of Korea; one person with this family name who had come from North Korea and was living in Seoul stated that there had previously been many more people with that family name living near Seoncheon.
Hanja and meaning
There are 34 hanja with this reading, and variant forms of three of those, on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be used in personal names; they are:
Koreans with the single-syllable given name Young include:
Choe Yeong (1316–1388), Goryeo dynasty male general
Song Yeong (born 1950), South Korean male writer
Kim Young (born 1980), South Korean female professional golfer
Seo Young (born 1984), South Korean actress
You Young (born 2004), South Korean female figure skater
Names containing this element were popular for newborn boys in South Korea from the 1940s through the late 1960s. Korean names which begin with this element include:
Korean names which end with this element include:
