Suh
A short surname found in Korea and elsewhere in East Asia, usually representing a Korean family name spelled Suh in older romanization.
The #4,961 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,553 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Suh is most often an older English spelling used for the Korean surname now commonly romanized Seo or Seoh. In Korean it is written with a hanja character typically associated with the sound and surname tradition of Seo, rather than with an English word meaning. In some cases, similar-looking surnames in Chinese contexts may also be rendered this way in older transliteration, so the spelling can reflect romanization rather than a single shared root.
History
The spelling Suh became familiar in English-language records through Korean immigration and older romanization habits, especially in the 20th century. Because English spelling does not map neatly onto Korean sounds, many families later standardized to Seo, while Suh remained a common alternate rendering in diaspora records and documents. The surname is not related to the English word “sue” or to any common occupational surname in Britain.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older romanization often used Suh to make the Korean surname Seo easier for English speakers to pronounce.
From the historical record
“PIMBLOTT = Pirn (q.v.) -f- the Fr. double PI M LETT. ■ dim. suH. -el-et, -el-ot. PIMLOTT . Pimelet, Pimelot, are now rare in France; but forms with a single dim- suff., e.g. Pim{b)el, Pimet, are fairly common.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)