Bong is a surname in various cultures.

Origins

Bong may be a spelling of a number of

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the ...

s based on their pronunciation in different

varieties of Chinese Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...

. They are listed below by their Mandarin

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

spelling: * Huáng (, meaning "yellow"); spelled Bong based on the

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

pronunciation in dialects spoken in parts of Indonesia and MalaysiaFor both of these surnames, the mainstream Hakka pronunciation would be spelled with a "v", e.g.

Pha̍k-fa-sṳ Pha̍k-fa-sṳ is an orthography similar to Pe̍h-ōe-jī and used to write Hakka, a variety of Chinese. Hakka is a whole branch of Chinese, and Hakka dialects are not necessarily mutually intelligible with each other, considering the large geogr ...

. However, in some dialects of Hakka spoken on

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, including in

Singkawang Singkawang or Sakawokng in Dayak Salako or San-Khew-Jong ( hak, 山口洋), is a city located in the province of West Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. It is located at about 145 km north of Pontianak, the provincial capital ...

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

, and Serian, the initial has shifted to /b/. This is possibly due to

crosslinguistic influence Crosslinguistic influence (CLI) refers to the different ways in which one language can affect another within an individual speaker. It typically involves two languages that can affect one another in a bilingual speaker. An example of ...

from the

Malay language Malay (; ms, Bahasa Melayu, links=no, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Rejang script, Rencong: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language that is an official language of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, and that is also spo ...

, which lacks voiced labial fricatives. Hakka as spoken in

peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...

does not exhibit this shift. See * Wáng (, meaning "king"); spelled Bong based on the Hakka pronunciation in dialects spoken in parts of Indonesia and Malaysia * (); spelled Bong based on the

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

pronunciation (

Pe̍h-ōe-jī (; ; ), also sometimes known as the Church Romanization, is an orthography used to write variants of Southern Min Chinese, particularly Taiwanese and Amoy Hokkien. Developed by Western missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora in South ...

: ) Bong is the

Revised Romanization Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Min ...

spelling of a

Korean surname A Korean name (Hangul: ; Hanja: ) consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both South Korea and North Korea. In the Korean language, ''ireum'' or ''seongmyeong'' usually refers to the family name (''seon ...

originally written using either of two

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

. These surnames are also spelled Pong in most other systems of romanising Korean (e.g.

McCune–Reischauer McCune–Reischauer romanization () is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems. A modified version of McCune–Reischauer was the official romanization system in South Korea until 2002, when it was replaced by the Re ...

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, and North Korea's system), and are both used as Chinese surnames as well, pronounced Fèng in Mandarin. * (; ; meaning "to offer" or "to serve") * (; ; the name of a mythical bird) Bong may also be a Belgian surname of unclear origin, a Swedish surname originating from the word meaning "noise", and a

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

clan name.

Statistics

The 2000 South Korean census found 11,819 people in 3,629 households with the surnames spelled Bong in the Revised Romanization of Korean, divided among 11,492 people in 3,528 households for , and 327 people in 101 households for . Statistics compiled by

Patrick Hanks Patrick Hanks (born 24 March 1940) is an English lexicographer, corpus linguist, and onomastician. He has edited dictionaries of general language, as well as dictionaries of personal names. Background Hanks was educated at Ardingly College, ...

on the basis of the

2011 United Kingdom census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

and the

Census of Ireland 2011 The 2011 census of Ireland was held on Sunday, 10 April 2011. It was administered by the Central Statistics Office of Ireland and found the population to be 4,588,252 people.

found 53 people with the surname Bong on the island of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and one on the island of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In the

1881 United Kingdom census The United Kingdom Census of 1881 recorded the people residing in every household on the night of Sunday 3 April 1881, and was the fifth of the UK censuses to include details of household members. Data recorded Details collected include: address, ...

there were five bearers of the surname. The

2010 United States census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

found 1,208 people with the surname Bong, making it the 21,599th-most-common surname in the country. This represented an increase from 1,051 people (22,783rd-most-common) in the 2000 census. In the 2010 census, roughly 44% of the bearers of the surname identified as Asian (up from 36% in the 2000 census), and 50% as

non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...

(down from 58% in the 2000 census).

People

Chinese surnames

* Bong Swan An (; 1931–2018), Chinese-born Indonesian entrepreneur *

Bong Kee Chok Bong Kee Chok (; born 1937) was the main leader and member of North Kalimantan Communist Party (NKCP). North Kalimantan Communist Party (NKCP) As Bong was opposed to the formation of Malaysia, he was arrested on 22 June 1962. After his release, ...

(; born 1937), leader of the North Kalimantan Communist Party *

Diana Bong Diana Bong Siong Lin (born 5 September 1985) is a wushu taolu coach and retired athlete from Malaysia. Career Bong's first major international victory was at the 2006 Asian Games where she won the bronze medal in women's nanquan. The followi ...

(; born 1985), Malaysian wushu athlete and coach

Korean surnames

Deposed Crown Princess Bong Crown Princess Sun of the Haeum Bong clan (Hangul: 순빈 봉씨, Hanja: 純嬪奉氏; 1414 – ?) was the second wife Munjong of Joseon. Before her husband's accession to the throne, she was banished after it was discovered that she was sleepi ...

(; ; ), concubine of Crown Prince Yi Hyang of Joseon is not a given name but a title for concubines; her given name was not recorded, only her surname Bong. * Bong Chang-won (; born 1938), South Korean wrestler *

Bong Joon-ho Bong Joon-ho (, ; Hanja: 奉俊昊; born September 14, 1969) is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of four Academy Awards, his filmography is characterised by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black h ...

(; born 1969), South Korean film director and screenwriter *

Bong Man-dae Bong Man-dae (born 1970) is a South Korean actor, director, and scriptwriter. He is known as a soft-core porn director. Biography Bong was born in 1970 in Gwangju, South Korea. Before making his mainstream feature film debut in 2003, Bong dire ...

(; born 1970), South Korean film director *

Jung Bong Bong Jung-keun (; or ; born July 15, 1980) is a South Korean former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball with the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds, and in the KBO League with the LG Twins. He batted and threw ...

(; ; born 1980), South Korean baseball player *

Bong Tae-gyu Bong Tae-gyu (born 19 May 1981) is a South Korean actor. Filmography Film Television series Television show Hosting Radio shows Music video appearances Theater Awards and nominations References External links Bong ...

(; born 1981), South Korean actor

Other

People with the surname Bong other than those listed in the sections above include: * Ngundeng Bong (–1890), Nuer prophet from southern Sudan *Richard Bong (), German painter, plaintiff in US Supreme Court case '' Bong v. Campbell Art Co.'' *

Harry Bong Kommendör, Captain Nils ''Harry'' Martin Bong (13 June 1905 – 18 July 1987) was a Swedish Navy officer. Bong served as commanding officers of the torpedo boat HSwMS ''Antares'', the cruisers HSwMS ''Örnen'' and , and the coastal defence ship . ...

(1905–1987), Swedish Navy officer *

Richard Bong Richard "Dick" Ira Bong (September 24, 1920 – August 6, 1945) was a United States Army Air Forces major and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II. He was one of the most decorated American fighter pilots and the country's top flying ace ...

(1920–1945), United States Army Air Forces major and Medal of Honor recipient in World War II * Melanie Bong (born 1968), German jazz singer * Ernest Bong (born 1984), ni-Vanuatu football goalkeeper *

Josh Abercrombie Joshua Raymond (born April 13, 1984), better known by his ring name Josh Abercrombie, is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenures in Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, Juggalo Championship Wrestling, Ring of ...

(born 1984), American wrestler who used the ring name Billy Bong *

Frédéric Bong Frédéric Bong (born 27 July 1987) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Régional 1 club AS Echiré Saint-Gelais. Career Bong was born in Douala, Cameroon. He joined US Créteil-Lusitanos in 2004 after being sco ...

(born 1987), Cameroonian football defender in France *

Gaëtan Bong Thomas Gaëtan Bong (born 25 April 1988) is a Cameroonian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left back. He has made 16 appearances for the Cameroon national football te ...

(born 1988), Cameroonian football defender in England * Tobias Bong (born 1988), German canoeist *

Valentino Bong Valentino Bon Jovi Bong (born 14 February 1989) is a professional squash player who has represented Malaysia. He is also a coach. Early life Bong was born on 14 February 1989 in Kuching, Sarawak in Malaysia. He was born to a Filipino mother, Cav ...

(born 1989), Malaysian squash player

Fictional characters

* Doctor Bong, an American comic book character introduced in 1977 *Bong Dal-hee, the title character of the 2007 South Korean television series ''

Surgeon Bong Dal-hee ''Surgeon Bong Dal-hee'' () is a 2007 South Korean medical drama television series starring Lee Yo-won (in the title role), Lee Beom-soo, Kim Min-jun and Oh Yoon-ah. It aired on SBS from January 17 to March 15, 2007 on Wednesdays and Thursdays ...

References

{{surname Swedish-language surnames Chinese-language surnames Korean-language surnames Multiple Chinese surnames