Seong (Korean: 성), also spelled Song or Sung, is an uncommon Korean family name, a single-syllable Korean given name, as well as a common element in two-syllable Korean given names. The meaning differs based on the hanja used to write it.
Family name
The family name Seong is written with only one hanja, meaning "succeed" or "accomplish" (成). The 2000 South Korean Census found 167,903 people with this family name, up by six percent from 158,385 in the 1985 census. This increase was far smaller than the fifteen percent growth in the overall South Korean population over the same period.[1] They traced their origins to only a single bon-gwan, Changnyeong County.[2] This was also the place where they formed the highest concentration of the local population, with 2,360 people (3.61%).[1]
In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 67.4% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as Sung in their passports. The Revised Romanisation spelling Seong was in second place at 29.4%. Rarer alternative spellings (the remaining 3.2%) included Seung, Shung, and the Yale Romanisation spelling Seng.[3]
Seong Chun-hyang, the title character of the folk tale Chunhyangjeon
Seong Mi-na, in Japanese fighting game series Soul Caliber
Sung Jinwoo, protagonist of the South Korean light novel and manhwa, Solo Leveling
Seong Gi-hun, the main character of the television series Squid Game
In given names
Hanja
As of December 2018[update], regulations of the Supreme Court of Korea permit the following 24 hanja with the reading Seong, plus six variant forms, to be registered for use in given names.[4]
Seong of Balhae (died 795), 5th ruler of the kingdom of Balhae
Jin Xing (김성; Gim Seong; born 1967), Chinese ballet dancer of Korean descent
As name element
Many names starting with this element have been popular names for newborn baby boys in earlier decades, according to South Korean government data:[5][6]
^ ab"성씨인구분포데이터" [Family name population and distribution data]. South Korea: National Statistics Office. Archived from the original on 2013-11-01. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
^성씨 로마자 표기 방안: 마련을 위한 토론회 [Plan for romanisation of surnames: a preparatory discussion]. National Institute of the Korean Language. 25 June 2009. p. 59. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
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