Find out how popular the last name Ung is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Ung.

Ung, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Ung surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ung in America

Ung is the 7369th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ung surname appeared 4,519 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Ung.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ung to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Ung

The surname UNG has its origins in the Scandinavian countries, particularly Norway, where it first emerged in the Viking era around the 8th-10th centuries. The name is thought to derive from the Old Norse word "ungr," meaning "young" or "youthful," and may have been used as a descriptive surname for a young person or the youngest child in a family.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name UNG can be found in the Landnámabók, an Icelandic medieval manuscript detailing the settlement of Iceland in the 9th and 10th centuries. It mentions several individuals with the name, such as Ung Bjarnason, who settled in the Vestfirðir region of Iceland in the late 9th century.

In Norway, the name UNG can be traced back to the 13th century, with records mentioning individuals like Sigurd Ung, a prominent landowner and chieftain in the Trøndelag region during the reign of King Håkon IV Håkonsson (1217-1263).

The surname UNG also appeared in various historical records and documents across Scandinavia, including the Diplomatarium Norvegicum, a collection of medieval Norwegian diplomas and charters. One notable example is Haakon Ung, a Norwegian nobleman and military commander who lived in the late 14th century and played a role in the struggles between the Danish and Norwegian monarchies.

In later centuries, the name UNG spread to other parts of Europe, particularly through migration and trade connections with Scandinavia. For instance, Jens Ung (1598-1659) was a Danish merchant and ship owner who operated in the Baltic Sea region during the 17th century.

Another notable bearer of the surname UNG was Carl Gustaf Ung (1797-1865), a Swedish artist and painter known for his landscapes and seascapes. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts and had a significant influence on the development of Swedish romantic landscape painting.

In the 19th century, the name UNG also gained prominence in the United States, where it was brought by Scandinavian immigrants. One such individual was Hans Ung (1828-1901), a Norwegian-American businessman and pioneer who settled in Wisconsin and played a key role in the development of the state's lumber industry.

Over the centuries, the surname UNG has seen various spelling variations, including Unge, Unger, and Yngve, reflecting regional and linguistic differences in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe where the name has been adopted.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ung

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Ung.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Ung was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Ung has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Ung was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Ung, please contact us.

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