Seng

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Seng
Language(s)Chinese, German, Korean
Origin
Meaning
  • German: 'to singe'
  • Korean: 'to accomplish' (成), 'star' (星)
Other names
Variant form(s)

Seng is a Cambodian, Chinese, German, and Korean surname.

Origins[edit]

Seng may be the spelling of multiple Chinese surnames, based on their pronunciation in different varieties of Chinese; they are listed below by their spelling in Hanyu Pinyin, which reflects the standard Mandarin pronunciation:

  1. Sēng (僧), a surname found primarily in Henan. The word itself originated from the Sanskrit sangha 'association', and in Chinese most commonly means bhikkhu 'Buddhist monk'. In some cases it may have originated as an occupational surname, in others as a transcription into Chinese characters of a Mongolian name.[1][2]
  2. Chéng (成), spelled Seng based on its pronunciation in various Southern Min dialects (e.g. Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sêng; Teochew Peng'im: Sêng5)[3][4]
  3. Shéng (盛), homophonous or nearly-homophonous with the above surname in most Southern Min dialects (e.g. Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sêng; Teochew Peng'im: Sêng6)[5]
  4. Chén (陳/陈), spelled Seng based on its Hainanese pronunciation (Hainanese Transliteration Scheme: Sin2). This spelling is found for example in Singapore.[6][7]
  5. Shěn (沈)
  6. Zhuāng (莊/庄)

The Cambodian surname Seng (សេង) probably originates from the Southern Min pronunciations of Chéng or Shéng.

The German surname Seng in most cases originated as a toponymic surname for a person who lived on land which had been cleared by fire, from Middle High German sengen 'to singe'.[8][9] In some cases it originated as an occupational surname for a farmer, from MHG senge 'ready to cut (of grain)', or as a patronymic from the hypocorism Seng (whose origin is unclear). Though there is a village by the name Seng in Altötting district in far southeastern Bavaria, the distribution of the surname within Germany (largely concentrated in northwestern Bavaria and neighbouring states) appears to rule out the earlier theory that the surname was related to that village.[9]

As a Korean surname, Seng is the spelling, in the relatively rare Yale romanization of Korean, of the surname spelled in the much-more-common Revised Romanization of Korean as Seong (Korean: 성). It can be written with either of two hanja: Irul Seong (이룰 成 'to accomplish'; same character as for the second Chinese surname listed above), and Byeol Seong (별 星 'star').[10][11]

Statistics[edit]

There were 720 people in Germany with the surname Seng, making it the 4,824th-most-common surname.[9]

The 2000 South Korean census found 184,555 people in 57,248 households with the surname Irul Seong, and 808 people in 265 households with the surname Byeol Seong.[11] This surname is only rarely spelled as Seng; in a study based on year 2007 applications for South Korean passports, among the 292 applicants with this surname in the sample, only one chose to spell it as Seng, as compared to 197 applicants who spelled it as Sung, and 86 as Seong.[10]

The 2010 United States census found 4,563 people with the surname Seng, making it the 7,311th-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase from 3,588 (8,457th-most-common) in the 2000 census. In the 2010 census, about 55% of bearers of the surname identified as Asian (up from 46% in 2000), and 38% as non-Hispanic white (down from 45% in 2000).[12] It was the 563rd-most-common surname among respondents to the 2000 census who identified as Asian.[13]

People[edit]

  • Samuel T. Y. Seng (沈祖榮; 1884–1977), Chinese librarian
  • Willi Seng (1909–1944), German communist and anti-Nazi resistance fighter
  • Seng Liang (沈良; 1913–?), Chinese weightlifter
  • Colleen Seng (born 1936), American local politician in Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Joe Seng (1946–2016), American local politician in Iowa
  • Seng Han Thong (成汉通; born 1950), Singaporean politician
  • Theary Seng (born 1971), Cambodian-born American human-rights activist and lawyer
  • James Seng (庄振宏; fl. 1990s–present), Singaporean Internet businessman
  • Seng Sothea (សេង សុធា; born 1984), Cambodian chef
  • Jarrad Seng (born 1988), Australian photographer and filmmaker

References[edit]

  1. ^ "僧姓起源与僧人有关 尼姓人可能是孔子后裔". China News Service. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  2. ^ "中国有个姓氏，人口不到10万，祖先与和尚有关，如今只分布河南". Sohu. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  3. ^ Medhurst, Walter Henry (1832). A dictionary of the Hok-këèn dialect of the Chinese language, according to the reading and colloquial idioms. East India Company Press. p. 590.
  4. ^ Fielde, Adele M. (1883). "應". A pronouncing and defining dictionary of the Swatow dialect, arranged according to syllables and tones. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press. p. 470. Additionally see "成". mogher.com. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  5. ^ Medhurst 1832, p. 590; Fielde 1883, p. 471. Additionally see "盛". mogher.com. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  6. ^ 罗健名 (2012). "新加坡华人姓氏平写法研究". In 罗福腾 (ed.). 《新加坡华语应用研究新进展》. Global Publishing. pp. 244, 248. ISBN 9789813205970.
  7. ^ 梁猷刚 (1988). 《海南音字典（普通话对照）》. 华南师范大学中文系《方音字典》. 广东人民出版社. p. 75. ISBN 7218001955. The Hainanese Transliteration Scheme is based on the prestige Wenchang dialect, whereas the spelling "Seng" may have come from the pronunciation in some other dialect.
  8. ^ Hanks, Patrick, ed. (2003). Dictionary of American Family Names. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. p. 321. ISBN 9780199771691.
  9. ^ a b c "Seng". Digitales Familiennamenwörterbuch Deutschlands. Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  10. ^ a b 씨 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 March 2023.
  11. ^ a b "행정구역(구시군)/성씨·본관별 가구 및 인구" [Family names by administrative region (district, city, county): separated by bon-gwan, households and individuals]. Korean Statistical Information Service. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  12. ^ "How common is your last name?". Newsday. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  13. ^ "Most common last names for Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S." Mongabay. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
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