What race/ethnicity is Noonien Soong supposed to be?

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Michael_Knight25@reddit

I thought humans were above color in the 24th Century?

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Donjeur@reddit

And why was he named after KAAAAHN???

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Legit possible explanation, we see that Arik Soong from Enterprise was a genetics expert who was obsessed with augments like Khan. He thought that augmented humans were the next step for humanity, and with some changes, he could make augments that would not be tyrants like Khan.

His ancestor, Adam Soong was directly involved with the genetic project that created Khan too, and its likely that Adam Soong was involved at the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement we see from Strange New Worlds. That on its own implies that "Noonien-Singh" existed before Khan perhaps as a different genetics expert who started the institute.

Its possible the admiration for augments continued in the family and he was named that in honor of Khan, or perhaps just to honor whoever the Noonien-Singh Institute for Cultural Advancement was named after.

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Donjeur@reddit

That’s a great thought…

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Exa2552@reddit

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PangolinMandolin@reddit

From the Wiki

"By the final draft, Khan is Indian; a character guesses that Khan is from Northern India and "probably a Sikh".[11] Khan's full name was based on that of Kim Noonien Singh, a pilot Gene Roddenberry served with during the Second World War. Roddenberry lost touch with his friend and had hoped that Singh's similar name might attract his attention and renew his old acquaintance.[12]"

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Theborgiseverywhere@reddit

Wrong guy, OP is asking about the cyberneticist not the tyrant.

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PangolinMandolin@reddit

You're right, my bad. I was sleepy when I responded earlier

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BAGStudios@reddit

Still glad to have learned it :)

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Theborgiseverywhere@reddit

Easy mistake to make- Gene named them both after the same guy

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Djehutimose@reddit

In Picard season two, Brent Spiner plays Adam Soong, a geneticist attempting to create the perfect human, in the year 2024. This Soong is (obviously) Caucasian in appearance and speaks English with no accent. Any Asian ancestry must be a few generations back from him.

Also, (SPOILER) >!near the end of the last episode, Soong, his evil collaboration with the Borg queen having been thwarted, opens a file on Project Khan. DAH-DAH-DAAAAH!! They still haven’t explained what connection occurs, but “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” in SNW indicates that the timeline has been so messed up that Khan, instead of being an adult in the 90’s is still a child in the 2020’s.!<

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wmagb@reddit

But his genetically engineered daughter appears to be (at least partially) Asian.

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SnooPaintings5597@reddit

Im pretty sure that far in the future with a singular nation of Earth the boundaries of names and such will be a thing of the past. You’d find people of all ethnic backgrounds combined with everything else. The true melting pot.

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Indiana_harris@reddit

As he’s played by Brent Spiner looking….well like a human Data/Brent Spiner it appears that Noonien Soong was predominantly Caucasian, though it’s very possible his name came from either living colonies or worlds that had more predominant Asian culture, or that he got the name from a semi-recent ancestor.

Add in that his biological son and ancestors all appear as Caucasian throughout multiple centuries while still bearing the name Soong and it seems that whatever ethnic origins it may have had are long lost to history.

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Gouper07@reddit

I go with this. My family is pretty much 100% northern European/ Scandinavian. My brother married a Japanese gal, they have 2 boys who look very Asian. Lets assume at least 1 marries a Japanese gal in the future, have a boy who also married a Japanese gal.. repeat a few times. Within 150 years you have a pretty high % of Japanese blood in the new generation, but with a very Scandinavian sounding last name. Assuming no one changed the name, of course. Its possible. So yeah, Soong is an Indian name on a Caucasian looking dude. Works for me

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Ok-Bowler-203@reddit

In the Star Trek The Next Generation Officers Manual, he’s listed as being able to speak Mandarin better than English.

Also, there’s some of a Data’s schematics from some background artwork that’s has Chinese characters on it.

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Djehutimose@reddit

If he’s Chinese or of Chinese descent, his name would be 宋. This was transliterated as “Sung” in the old Wade-Giles system, or in some informal versions, “Soong”. In the official Pinyin transliteration now used, it’d be “Sòng”, which would be pronounced with the “o” more or less like as in “bone”, with a falling tone. All that is Mandarin, and depending on what part of the country you’re in, the vowel could be anywhere from the “o” of “bone” to an “oo” as in “foot” or as in “boot”. In Cantonese, which is spoken in the Guangdong province and Hong Kong, the same character would be “Sung”, with the “u” of “true”, not the “u” of “but”, with a medium level tone.

The Wikipedia article on the name Song actually lists Noonien Soong under “fictional characters”. Also, while Roddenberry certainly didn’t know this, “Sòng” could be taken to be an astronomical reference, which is amazingly cool and appropriate.

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