This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the Young.' Middle English yong and yung. Probably in many cases the nickname was applied in the sense of junior, to distinguish father and son when both bore the same personal name (v. Senior); compare Younger. Over a thousand people bear this name in London alone.

Hugh le Yunge, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Ralph le Younge, Staffordshire, ibid.

William le Yunge, Northumberland, 30 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

1561. Baptised — John, son of Gregory Yong, grocer: St. Peter, Cornhill.

A personal name the same in meaning with Gaelic Og, 'young.' The name was probably applied, as Bardsley suggests, "in the sense of junior, to distinguish father and son when both bore the same personal name." Malmor dictus Juvenis and Ade dictus Juvenis were assizers at Dumbarton in 1271 (RMP., p. 191). John Yong de Dyngvale witnessed a charter by the earl of Ross to Reginald, son of Roderick of the Isles, in 1342 (TGSI., VI p. 165), and Symone Yong was burgess of Elgin in 1343 (REM., p. 290). John Yhung was a tenant of the earl of Douglas in Moffat in 1376 (RHM., I, p. lxiii), Adam lung witnessed a notarial instrument in 1413 (Pollok, I, p. 146), and Walter Young served on an assize at Edinburgh in 1428 (RAA., II, 61). Alexander Yong was chaplain and procurator of the house of the Holy Trinity of Aberdeen in 1439 (CRA., p. 6), John Zung was a presbyter in Glasgow in 1442 (REG., 346), and William Yhonge and Walter Yhonge, Scottish merchants, had safe conducts into England in 1446 (Bain, IV, 1187), and so also had Patrick Yunge (Yonge, or Yhong), dean of Dunkeld in 1449 (ibid., 1212, 1218). William Zhong was vicar of Cragy in 1449 (RMP., p. 83), Robert Yhunge held a tenement in Glasgow in 1454 (LCD., p. 174), and John loung was bailie of William, earl of Orkney in 1462 (Cambus., 89). Alexander Yonge, a native of Scotland, had letters of denization in England in 1482 (Bain, IV, 1473), William Zung is recorded in Newburgh, Fife, in 1479 (LAC., 153), and Mongw Young was tenant in Stobo in 1528 (Rental). Yowng 1456, Ywng 1388, Zeung 1617, Zong 1511, Zonge 1493, Zoonge 1525, Zowng 1522. compare Younger.

(English) This name doubtless owes its commonness to being used in the sense of 'the younger’ or ‘junior’ [Middle English yong(e, yung(e, Old English geong, young] John le onge.—Hundred Rolls Young, in our directories, is often a recent Anglicization of the cognate Ger. Jung.

(English, German) One younger than another with whom he was associated, or of two bearing the same Christian name; the younger son.

This very well-known surname appears to be of common origin with the classical Neander, Juvenal, &c., and to refer to the youth of the first bearer, at the time when it was adopted or imposed. The HR. forms are Juvenis and Le Juvene, and Le Jeune was one of the most common of French family names. Verstegan says: "Yong, of his fewness of years." H.R. Le Yonge, Le Yunge.

A name given on account of age.

Young. —Distributed over the English counties, but most numerous in the south of England, especially in Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Hants, and Kent. Its centre in the north is in Northumberland and Durham. In the midlands it is scattered about in no great numbers; and in Norfolk and Suffolk it is supplemented or represented by Youngs. Over a large part of Scotland, but especially south of the Forth and the Clyde, Young is numerously to be found.

At the end of last century Mr. Thomas Battams owned Staysmore, in the parish of Carlton, where the family still remain: Mr. T. Battams was a churchwarden of Turyey in 1815 (H.).

The surname Young derives from the Old English ‘geong’, meaning ‘young’, and from the Middle English word ‘yong’, or ‘yung’. Initially this name could have been given as a nick­name, either with reference to its bearer’s appearance or, more usually, to distinguish the bearer from his father, who may well have had the same name. In this sense ‘yung’ would mean ‘junior’. This is similar to the modern American use of the word junior (as in, for example, Kurt Vonnegut Jnr). Very occasionally the word is used to distinguish two brothers.

There are many variations on the surname Young. The most frequent of these are Youngs (son of Young), Younge, Yonge and Younger. A frequent compound variation is the name Younghusband. This is an occupational name and has nothing to do with marriage. Here ‘husband’ is used in the sense which remains in our word ‘husbandry’. Thus Younghusband means ‘young farmer’. Youngman is also an occupational name and means ‘young servant’, or simply ‘servant’. To this day, this term is still used occasionally in London clubs to waiters (who are often far from young), and this sense remains in the French word for a waiter, which is ‘garcon’ meaning ‘boy’ or ‘young man’. Another widespread variation is the predictable Youngson, whose meaning is self- evident. The variant Younger occasionally has a less obvious meaning. This is when the name derives from the Middle Dutch word ‘jonghheer’, which means ‘young nobleman’ (much like the similar German word ‘Junker’).

This name is one of the oldest to appear in the records, and references to it go back well before the Norman Conquest.

The earliest mention of a name stemming from this meaning is in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the records for Essex. Here, in 744, one Wilferth seo Iunga is mentioned.

The Young—Helmholtz theory explains colour vision as resulting from separate retina fibres for red, green and blue light. The theory is named after Thomas Young (1773—1829) and, of course, Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (1821—94). Young also established the wave theory of light, and assisted in deciphering the Rosetta Stone.

Jazz great, Lester ‘Pres’ Young, got an early start: at the age of 10 he became a drummer in his father’s New Orleans Show. Switching to the saxophone at 13, he made his name when he started playing with the legendary trumpeter, Joe ‘King’ Oliver, in Kansas City, later joining Count Basie’s band for 10 years. His unique, sparse but buoyant sound triggered a bitter controversy which ranged through the jazz world for 15 years. Young’s long-term love affair with Billie Holiday led to a series of recordings still regarded as masterpieces.

US astronaut John Young joined Virgil Grisson on the first two-man space flight, Gemini 3. Seventeen years later he orbited the moon on the final check-out of the Apollo systems before the successful Apollo 11 flight.

Sir Francis Younghusband (1863—1942), born in India, was a key member of the 1902 expedition which opened Tibet to the Western world. The main purpose of the expedition was to begin trade negotiations; when the first attempt was unsuccessful, the team undiplomatically slaughtered some 600 Tibetans, occupied the capital, Llasa, and forced the concession of a trade treaty on the Dalai Lama. A grateful England knighted Younghusband.

The United Kingdom has one related place name-Young’s End, while Canada has 2 (Young and Youngstown) and the United States has 10 including 5 Youngsvilles. Australia has a town called Young, and so does Uruguay. The name is common for geographic features and sometimes refers to the geologic age of the mountain or body of water so named.

With about 105,000 namesakes Young is the 50th most popular surname in England and Wales. There are over 21,000 Youngs in Scotland where it is 19th in popularity. Young is notably popular in and around Edinburgh where an estimated one in about 185 families bears the name. In descending numerical order, Glasgow, Bristol and Teesside are other Young strongholds. Around the world Youngs are most common in Wellington (one in 361 families), Toronto (one in 509) and Auckland (one in 515). The United States has more Youngs than the entire populations of Southampton and Portsmouth combined-an estimated total of just over 478,000 makes this their 26th most popular surname.