Pong
surname · Latin script
Meaning: A stench, a bad smell
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
/pɒŋ/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Pong is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country.
- MYMalaysia≈1 in 11K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 386K
- HKHong Kong≈1 in 2.5K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Pong itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- China (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 242 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 2.5K (inferred from the name graph)
≈20,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Hong Kong, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
One other spelling is counted as the same name:
Locally spelled Poeng in MR Mauritania.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
A stench, a bad smell.
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Pong counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN China | — | ≈20,000 est. | ≈1 in 68K | — | Pong | 21 |
| MY Malaysia | — | ≈3,100 est. | ≈1 in 11K | — | Pong | 56 |
| HK Hong Kong | #369 | ≈2,900 est. | ≈1 in 2.5K | — | Pong | 66 |
| US United States | — | 861 | 1 in 386K | 983 | Pong | 242 |
| CA Canada | — | ≈410 est. | ≈1 in 93K | — | Pong | 95 |
| SG Singapore | — | ≈330 est. | ≈1 in 19K | — | Pong | 60 |
| MR Mauritania | — | ≈120 est. | ≈1 in 33K | — | Poeng | 1 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Pong is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In cdo, Used ill the coll. for a time or season, as in "chi , (pong, at this time ； W ^pon <7, next time, hereafter. '"- 、 P'wo. Used for the coll. ^'iro' nuraerative of Chinese leagues : ，sioh、— p'-wo^ one league or ten Hi. Sieu. , A coll. word, as in aioh^ sieu) a while ― the same as siok^ sidJc, 'ku, or sioh、 k'aik, 'kii; Hing sioh^ sieu' wait a while.
as a wordAn Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect
In Lao, v. put down, set down, place, position, set up. - 8). put down. 2^ udo Sici U? 1. v. resolve, decide. 2. v. give, grant. i . tq ts 3 - 1a v. resolve, decide, agree; wish. . ` — YERA v. give to others before one's death. — vu v. give, grant. ss 30 P U9 1. n. opium weight. 2. n. twenty-five ticuls. JaAn: /peng si de v, pay a fee to a, | doctor, " Ne etc. Üstac$o [pong ory
as a wordLao-English Dictionary
In cdo, ~ Also read ip ong : abundant, an overflowing measure : coll., (P^ong
as a wordAn Alphabetic Dictionary of the Chinese Language in the Foochow Dialect
In cdo, a noise, a sound, as af things set down or of wood when struck
as a wordDictionary of the Foochow Dialect
In cdo, to bend, to incline, as the head or body
as a wordDictionary of the Foochow Dialect
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Crown Princess Sunbin Bongb. 1414not in their usual namesecond consort of the crown prince of Joseon.
- Tu-wan Pongb. 1935KRSouth Korean journalist
- Bong Hye-seonb. 1948KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean actress
- Bong Joon-hob. 1969KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean filmmaker (born 1969)
- Bong Man-daeb. 1970KRnot in their usual nameSouth-Korean actor, assistant director, director and scriptwriter also known as a soft-core film director
- Bong Jung-keunb. 1980KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean baseball player
- Bong Tae-gyub. 1981KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean actor (1981-)
- Ernest Bongb. 1984VUnot in their usual nameVanuatuan footballer
- Bong Jae-hyunb. 1999KRnot in their usual nameSouth Korean singer and actor
- Tyler Ham Pongactor
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 21 sources across 10 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 338 | #17,908 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 270 | #17,908 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1995 | 6 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1993 | 5 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1991 | 5 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1983 | 5 | — |
Reference works 3
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Pong mean, and where does it come from?
- A stench, a bad smell. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- How do you pronounce Pong?
- A machine transcription gives /pɒŋ/ (IPA) for English.
- In which country does Pong have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 20 thousand people named Pong in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled pong.
- How common is the name Pong?
- In the United States, the national register counted 861 people named Pong in 2010, about 1 in 386 thousand residents.
- How common is Pong compared with other names?
- In Hong Kong, Pong is the 369th most common surname of 8,142 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Pong?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/pongThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Pong” — the 369th most common surname in Hong Kong. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.