Soo-young as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Soo-young

What is the meaning of the name Soo-young ?

The baby name Soo-young is a Unisex name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced IPA: /su.jʌŋ/; approx. 'soo-yuhng'.

Soo-young is Korean in Origin.

Soo-young (수영) is a Korean given name, unisex though more common for women in recent decades, built from the Sino-Korean elements su and yeong written with chosen hanja. In Revised Romanization it is Su-yeong; other spellings include Sooyoung, Suyeong, and Soo Young, while McCune–Reischauer records Suyŏng. The hyphen is optional in modern style, but common in personal preference and passports.

Meaning varies with hanja selection. Popular pairings include 秀英 (“excellent” + “heroic/flowerlike”), 秀榮 (“excellent” + “glory”), 守永 (“to guard” + “eternal”), 壽英 (“long life” + “brilliance/hero”), 洙映 (“islet/stream” + “shine”), and the character 瑛 for “sparkling jade” combined with various first elements. The name has steady 20th–21st-century use and reads contemporary yet traditional. Notable bearers include actor Ryu Soo-young and singer Choi Sooyoung, underscoring its unisex status. Though homophonous with the Korean word for “swimming” (수영), personal names use distinct hanja, allowing parents to craft refined, auspicious meanings.

⚙ Soo-young is vanishingly rare. In all, it appears just 2 times, across 2 countries.