Kwon
A Korean surname, most often written in modern romanization as Kwon, from a Chinese character meaning “authority” or “power.”
The #2,721 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,328 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Kwon is a Korean family name usually associated with the hanja 權, a Chinese character meaning “authority,” “power,” or “right.” In Korean it is traditionally rendered as 권, with Kwon being a common romanized spelling in English. The name is therefore not an English occupational surname but a transliteration of a Korean hereditary surname.
History
In modern usage, Kwon is one of the standard romanizations of the Korean surname 권, alongside shorter spellings such as Gwon in some systems. The name is borne by many people in Korea and in the Korean diaspora, and it appears in English-language records in several spellings depending on the romanization used at the time. The historical excerpt provided appears to be an incidental U.S. census-style mention rather than a surname-etymology discussion.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because the surname is tied to the hanja 權, its literal sense is closer to “power” or “authority” than to an English word sound-alike.
From the historical record
“London. 8,0; UDB. (Norfolk), S.O ; (Suffolk). Ito; Philadelphia o. I iS" York, o, 1 i^kWon (U.S.), i, a. Youngmay.^Nieknamc, 'the young may,* i. e. the growing boy ; V. May (1).”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances