Song: meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning & origin

Where it comes from

Song comes from Mandarin.

How it developed

In English usage, Song as a surname developed from សុង.

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1957. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Song through the years

Babies since 1880: 282; 76 boys · 206 girls
Most popular year: 1983; 24 babies
2025: 0; Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20: —; Too few births to compare

Boys Girls

Song in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1957–2025, per million births of each sex. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 12 in 1982. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 5,530 as a first name in 2020; 31,257 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Song’s family of names

In English usage, Song as a surname developed from the Khmer form សុង. In English usage, Song as a surname has a related form in SUNG. In English usage, Song as a surname has a related form in SOONG.

Walk Song’s family in the name graph

Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Around the world

Song has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its Chinese roots to each of them.

4 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.

Each dot marks where a language is rooted, not where people with the name live today. Bigger dots hold more names. Dots on the border stand for languages further away. Language locations from Glottolog (CC BY 4.0); map from Natural Earth.

Nicknames & forms 2

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Spellings & scripts 1

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

សុងoriginal script · Khmer

Across languages 14

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

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People named Song

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Song, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Chinese

Sibling ideas

Names that share Song’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Song

A sister for Song

Your shortlist

Song