Sō as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Sō

What is the meaning of the name Sō ?

The baby name Sō is a boy name , 1 syllables long and is pronounced SOH.

Sō is Chinese, Japanese in Origin.

Sō is the Hepburn romanization of Japanese 宗, a Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese character 宗. The graph is attested in early Chinese inscriptions as a form combining 宀, a roof or building, with 示, an altar or sign of ritual offering. In Old Chinese it referred to an ancestral shrine, then by extension to ancestors, lineage, a principal clan line, or a religious school.

In China, 宗 is read Zōng in Mandarin and appears chiefly as a surname, though it may also form part of given names. Japanese usage treats 宗 as both a surname element and a masculine given name, either alone as Sō or in compounds read with native mune. The character also underlies Korean Jong and Vietnamese Tông. Modern Sō remains uncommon outside Japanese romanization, while unmarked So often obscures the long vowel.