Most
hanja with the reading Yong are pronounced that way in all dialects of Korean. However, the character used to write the family name (, meaning "dragon"), is also read as Ryong and spelled as such in hangul (룡). This is the standard reading in North Korea and among
Koreans in China. In a study by the
National Institute of the Korean Language based on a sample of year 2007 applications for
South Korean passports, it was found that 97% of people with this surname chose to have it spelled it in Latin letters as Yong, while 3% chose to spell it Young, and none spelled it Ryong. Yong is one of the 100 most common given names in China The 2000 South Korean Census found 14,067 people and 4,320 households with this family name. They identified with the following
bon-gwan (the hometown of a clan
lineage, not necessary the actual residence of the clan members): •
Hongcheon (in what is today
Gangwon-do, South Korea): 12,733 and 3,930 households •
Gaeseong (in what is today
South Pyongan Province, North Korea): 439 people and 130 households •
Suwon (in what is today
Gyeonggi-do, South Korea): 264 people and 72 households •
Gwangju (in what is today South Korea): 206 people and 59 households •
Yongin (in what is today Gyeonggi-do, South Korea): 174 people and 54 households •
Paju (in what is today Gyeonggi-do, South Korea): 164 people and 54 households • Other or unreported
bon-gwan: 87 people and 21 households People with this family name include: •
Yong Hyun-Jin (born 1988), South Korean football player •
Yong Jun-hyung (born 1989), South Korean rapper •
Yong Hye-in (born 1990), South Korean civil society activist ==In given names==