Chung
A surname used in several East Asian naming traditions, most often linked to Chinese names romanized from sounds like Zhong or Chong.
The #805 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 7,162 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Chung is a romanized surname found in more than one East Asian language tradition. In Chinese contexts, it often represents surnames pronounced something like Zhong or Chong in Mandarin, depending on the character and romanization system; the written character determines the exact meaning, which can range across different ancestral clan names. In Korean, Chung is a common older Romanization of surnames usually written Jeong, Jung, or Chong in modern systems, again depending on the underlying hanja.
History
In English-speaking countries, Chung became familiar through immigration from China, Korea, and other parts of East Asia, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. Because several unrelated surnames can be written Chung in Roman letters, the same spelling may represent different family lines and origins. The spelling has also been affected by older romanization conventions, so modern families may use Chung even when a different standard spelling is now preferred in the source language.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same English spelling can hide several different original surnames, so two people named Chung may have completely different ancestral characters and meanings.