Shum is a surname in various cultures.

Origins

Shum may be the spelling of the

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

pronunciation of two

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, listed below by their spelling in

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 ...

(which reflects the

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

pronunciation): * Cén (), which originated as a

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or topographic surname is a surname derived from a place name.

. (). *

Shěn Shěn is the Mandarin Hanyu pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname . Shen is the 14th surname in the Song-era ''Hundred Family Surnames''. Romanisation 沈 is romanised as Sum, Sem, Sam, or Shum in Cantonese; Sim in Hokkien; Shim in Hakka; ...

(). It is nearly-homophonous with the above surname in Cantonese (). Shum is also an

English surname English names are names used in, or originating in, England. In England as elsewhere in the English-speaking world, a complete name usually consists of a given name, commonly referred to as a first name, and a (most commonly patrilineal) family ...

. Early records of the surname in England in the ''

International Genealogical Index The International Genealogical Index (IGI) is a database of genealogical records, compiled from several sources, and maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Originally created in 1969, the index was intended to help track the ...

'' of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

include one bearer in 1748 in London and another in 1768 in Toddington, Bedfordshire. The German surname Shum is a variant spelling of Schum or Schumm, which originated as a toponymic surname after a place in Upper Saxony. It is also found as an Ashkenazi Jewish surname (Yiddish and he, שום).

Statistics

According to statistics cited 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, ...

, there were 342 people 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 21 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 ...

with the surname Shum as of 2011. 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, ...

found 73 people with the surname, primarily in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. 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 2,222 people with the surname Shum, making it the 13,627th-most-common surname in the country. This represented an increase from 2,025 (13,724th-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, about four-fifths of the bearers of the surname identified as

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and fourteen percent as

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

People

Chinese surname Cén ()

* John Shum (; born 1952), Hong Kong actor and film producer * Shum Kwok Pui (; born 1970), Hong Kong footballer *

Harry Shum Jr. Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is an American actor, dancer, choreographer, and singer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series ''Glee'' (2009–15), Benson Kwan on the ABC television series ''Grey's Anato ...

(; born 1982), American actor * Lester Shum (; born 1993), Hong Kong social activist

Chinese surname Shěn ()

Shen Hongying Shen Hongying or Shum Hung-ying (; Cantonese: ''Shum Hung-ying'') (Oct 15, 1871 – January 28, 1935) was a Chinese general in the Old Guangxi Clique during the Republic of China (1912–1949). Shum was given the title of General Hip Wai (協� ...

(; 1871-1935), also transcribed Shum Hung-ying, Chinese general in the Old Guangxi Clique * Lydia Shum (; 1945–2008), Hong Kong actress * Danny C. S. Shum (; born 1960), Hong Kong horse trainer * Harry Shum (; born 1966), Chinese-born American computer scientist *

Mina Shum Mina Shum (born 1966) is an independent Canadian filmmaker. She is a writer and director of award-winning feature films, numerous shorts and has created site specific installations and theatre. Her features, ''Double Happiness (film), Double Ha ...

(; born 1966), Hong Kong-born Canadian filmmaker

Other or unknown

* George Shum (1751–1805), English politician * Jim Shum (1853–1914), Chinese-born New Zealand gold miner * Itzhak Shum (; born 1948), Israeli footballer *

Idan Shum Idan Shum ( he, עידן שום; born March 26, 1976) is a former Israeli footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, Am ...

(; born 1976), Israeli footballer * Kevin Shum (born 1997), American figure skater

References

{{surname Chinese-language surnames English-language surnames German-language surnames Multiple Chinese surnames