Bing

BING (rhymes with "sing")

An old surname that likely began as a short personal name, later giving rise to place-based surnames like Bingham and Bingley.

The #8,133 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 75,747 Americans shares it.

🔗 Compare with another name ✨ Add a first name

Etymology

The surname Bing is usually treated as a survival of an old personal name rather than as a descriptive word. Nineteenth-century surname writers noted that Bing appears in place-names such as Bingham, Bingley, and Bingfield, and inferred that Bing was probably an ancient given name. The exact original meaning is uncertain, but the name seems to be native to early English naming rather than borrowed from a later source.

History

Lower and Barber both connect Bing with related surnames and local names, especially in England. The form is uncommon as a stand-alone surname, but it helped generate or survive in several related place-derived surnames. Because the evidence is old and somewhat speculative, the surname is best treated as an early English name of uncertain precise sense.

Origin

patronymic or matronymicOld EnglishMiddle English

Regions

EnglandNottinghamshireYorkshireSuffolk

Variant spellings

ByngBinkBinge

Fun fact

Some surname dictionaries treat Bing and Byng as variants of the same old name, which is why the related surname Byng is often discussed alongside Bing.

From the historical record

“BINFIELD. A parish in Berks. BING. See Byng. BINGHAIM. Seated temp. Henry I., at Sutton-Bingham, co. Somerset, and after- wards and now at Melcombe- Bingham. Said to be of Saxon antirpiity. BINGLEY. A parish in Yorkshu-e. BINNEY. Binnie, In the parish of Up- hale, Luilithgowshirc.”

— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom

Notable people named Bing

Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.

Related surnames

Confidence: mixed. Sources: Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom, British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.), British Family Names: their origin and meaning (1st ed.).

← Search another surname