Tung
A surname that most likely began as a short form related to a word for the tongue—possibly used as a nickname for a talkative or eloquent person.
The #7,536 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 69,994 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually explained as coming from an old Germanic word for “tongue,” with cognates in Old English and Old German forms such as tong/tunga/tungo. In this tradition, it may have started as a nickname for someone noted for speech, wit, or eloquence. Some 19th-century writers also connected forms like Tung and Tongue, treating them as related spellings of the same name group.
History
Historical surname writers place Tung among a family of short names that also produced Tong, Tonge, and Tongue. The evidence is not entirely consistent, and some notices may reflect local spelling variation rather than one fixed lineage. In modern usage, Tung can also occur independently as a surname in East Asian contexts, but the historical English etymology in these sources is the Germanic one.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname scholar explicitly glossed Tongue/Tung as likely connected with “lingua,” Latin for tongue, and suggested a nickname sense such as eloquence.
From the historical record
“ToUand.— Local ; v. Yelland. Tonge, Tung. — Nick. ' th< Young,' q.v. H. E. yoig and yuttg. John le YongTt, BoMon(U'.S.)^l,<”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances