ChineseKorean勇 “brave”
Meaning: brave, courageous — the character 勇, read yǒng in Chinese and 용 in Korean.
Yong
| Origin | Chinese and Korean — one character, 勇, read yǒng in Mandarin and yong (용) in Korean |
|---|---|
| Meaning | 勇 “brave, courageous”, built from 甬 as the sound over 力 “strength”. Chinese families also use 永 “eternal”; Korean 용 is often 龍 “dragon” instead |
| Pronunciation | YOHNG, rhyming with long. Third (dipping) tone in Mandarin; flat and short in Korean |
| Revised Romanization | Yong (용) |
| Popularity | Outside the current U.S. top 100. Given alone in China; in Korea it is far commoner as a syllable inside a two-part name than on its own |
| Variants | Yung (older romanisations), Yeung; the same character is Vietnamese Dũng and Japanese Isamu |
| Nicknames | Southern Chinese usage prefixes 阿: A-Yong. Doubling gives Yongyong at home |
| Shared character | 勇 is one of the three universal virtues named in the Doctrine of the Mean: 智 wisdom, 仁 benevolence, 勇 courage |
History & meaning
勇 is a compound of sound and sense: the element 甬 supplies the pronunciation and 力, “strength”, sits beneath it and supplies the idea. Classical Chinese treats the word carefully rather than romantically. In the Doctrine of the Mean courage is one of three virtues that any person may reach, listed with wisdom and benevolence, and Confucian writing repeatedly warns that courage without the other two is merely recklessness. A child named 勇 is being handed the third of a set, not a superhero label.
The character travelled everywhere the Chinese script did, and it is the same character behind three names on this site. Korean reads it yong (용), Vietnamese reads it Dũng, Japanese gives it the native reading Isamu. Korean usage adds a complication worth knowing: 용 in a Korean name is just as likely to be 龍, “dragon”, and the older McCune-Reischauer romanisation writes the entirely separate syllable 영 yŏng as “yong” once the breve is dropped, so a great many Koreans printed as Yong-something in English are not carrying this syllable at all. The Chinese and Korean names pages set out each system.
Why parents choose it
The appeal is directness. One syllable, one character, one meaning, and no need to explain any of it twice. For families who want a Chinese given name that an English-speaking teacher will read correctly on the first attempt, Yong is about as frictionless as the language gets.
Middle names for Yong
The blunt single beat sits well in front of something with more syllables and softer consonants: Yong Matthew, Yong Julian, Yong Everett, Yong Oliver. See the middle names guide for the full method.
Famous Yongs
The name's public bearers are easiest to find under the character's other readings. Nguyen Tan Dung, prime minister of Vietnam from 2006 to 2016, carries 勇 as Dũng; Japanese men named Isamu carry it too. In Chinese itself 勇 has been a staple of men's names for generations without producing an internationally famous single-syllable Yong, partly because it is so often the second half of a pair. Read the English press with the romanisation trap above in mind before assuming any given Yong belongs here.
Consider instead
Qiang 强 is physical strength where 勇 is nerve. Wei 伟 reaches for greatness on a larger scale. Jian 健 puts the emphasis on being sound and vigorous rather than bold.