Fong
A Chinese given name meaning "prosperous" or "abundant".
Name Census estimates that about 289 living Americans carry the first name Fong. It is a predominantly male name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Fong today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fong births was 1983 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fong. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
289
~ 1 in 1,186,001 Americans
Peak year
1983
27 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2001 SSA rank
#10,798
Tracked since 1900
Census
Fong in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,478 people with the first name Fong, which placed it at #9,400 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,400
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,478 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
97.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Fong
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fong is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Two or More Races (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Fong described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Fong at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander97.6% · 1,443
- White1.1% · 16
- Two or more races0.6% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
- Black or African American0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Fong
Fong leans heavily male at 98.4% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Fong as a male name
- Ranked #11,122 in 2001
- 5 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1989 (23 births)
Fong as a female name
- Ranked #10,798 in 1983
- 5 female births in 1983
- Peak: 1983 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Fong on both sides of the split. Of the 1,479 people counted with this name, 820 were male (55.4%) and 659 were female (44.6%).
Popularity
Fong: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fong from the 1900s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 185 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fong by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Fong during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fongs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Fong
The name Fong has its origins in the Chinese language and culture, dating back several centuries. It is a romanized spelling of the Cantonese pronunciation of the Chinese surname 方 (fāng), which means "square" or "direction." The name is believed to have originated in the southern regions of China, particularly in the Guangdong and Fujian provinces.
Fong can be traced back to ancient Chinese literature and historical records, where it appeared as a surname for various families and individuals. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Book of Songs, an anthology of ancient Chinese poetry dating back to the 11th–7th centuries BC.
Throughout Chinese history, several notable figures have borne the name Fong. One such individual was Fong Xiaoru (1357–1402), a renowned Chinese philosopher and poet during the Ming Dynasty. Another prominent Fong was Fong Yingyu (1703–1785), a Qing Dynasty scholar and official who served as the Governor of Guangdong Province.
In the 20th century, Fong Sec (1901–1971) was a prominent Chinese-American author and activist who advocated for Chinese immigrant rights in the United States. Fong Joe Gunn (1913–1972) was a Chinese-American businessman and philanthropist known for his contributions to the Chinese community in San Francisco.
Fong Sai-Yuk (1950–1997) was a Hong Kong martial artist and actor who achieved international fame for his roles in numerous kung fu movies during the 1970s and 1980s. Fong Foo (1918–2001) was a Chinese-American artist and calligrapher who helped preserve and promote traditional Chinese art forms in the United States.
It is worth noting that while the name Fong is primarily associated with Chinese culture, it has also been adopted and used by individuals from other ethnic backgrounds, particularly in regions with significant Chinese diaspora communities.
People
Fong + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fong as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fong: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fong?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 289 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fong going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,186,001 US residents.
Is Fong a common name?
We classify Fong as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 306 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fong most popular?
The single biggest year for Fong was 1983, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fong is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Fong in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,478 people with the name Fong, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,400 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Fong in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Fong?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Fong on both sides of the split. Of the 1,479 people counted with this name, 820 were male (55.4%) and 659 were female (44.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Fong?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Fong is Asian/Pacific Islander at 97.6%. The next largest groups are White (1.1%) and Two or More Races (0.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Fong most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Fong in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.6% (1,443 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Fong in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Fong a male name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Fong in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Fong still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Fong in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Fong can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Fong?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.