← Surname Means
Nickname

Young

The younger person — a distinguishing nickname (often younger son or namesake).

Confidence
High
US frequency
Rank 34 · 468,920 people
Common variants
Yonge, Yong

The short story

Young is a nickname surname from Middle English yong / Old English geong, "young." It usually marked the younger of two people who shared a given name—father and son, or two brothers—so neighbors could tell them apart. In Gaelic Scotland it sometimes translates the nickname Òg, also "young."

It is not a place and not "son of Young" as a first name in the English mainstream. German Jung and similar forms may be Americanized to Young, but the English nickname sense is the lead story.

Also seen as: Yonge, Yong

Sources used