Although some Youngs originated in England, Ireland, Wales, France and Germany, there is no where in the world with higher concentrations of Youngs than in Scotland. Most estimates state that between one third and one half of all Young families in North America originated in Scotland.

The first Young recorded in history was Wilferd the Young who was recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as having died in 744 after being the Bishop of York for the past 30 years. At that time York was a part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom which stretched from Humber River in the south, north to the Firth of Forth in Scotland.

By the 1200s, the Youngs were recorded in Scotland where they appear to have risen to positions of prominence. Two brothers, Malmor and Ade, for instance, were appointed as "assizers" (court officials) in Dunbarton in 1271. William Young was recorded as a monk who was the "confessor" to the knights who were garrisoned in Edinburgh Castle in the year 1300. In 1325, John Young was a Laird of Strachan, in Kincardineshire, and his son, Alexander, married the daughter of Sir Henry Maule of Panmure. Henry had been knighted by King Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn. How many years the Youngs were in Scotland before this time is uncertain. Many of the written records of the time period were destroyed during the Scottish War of Independence which raged on and off from the late 1200s to the early 1300s.

Today it is estimated that the surname Young is the 15th most common surname in all of Scotland. In Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, it is the 13th most common surname, and it is estimated that one out of every 185 residents bears this surname. Edinburgh has the highest concentrations of Youngs of any city in the world and it is closely followed by Glasgow.