"The Boys", "Mr. Taxi", and "Oh!". In Japan, they became the first non-Japanese girl group to have three number-one albums on the Oricon Albums Chart, and their three Japanese concert tours attracted a record-breaking 550,000 spectators. Name The group's Korean name is So-nyuh Shi-dae (), from the Sino-Korean root meaning "Generation of Girls"; they are also known as SoShi () or SNSD, both of which are abbreviated forms of the group's Korean-language name. Because their name consists of Chinese roots, the group's name is similar in Chinese and Japanese: in Japan the group's name is pronounced as , and in Mandarin Chinese as Shàonǚ Shídài (). History 2000–2008: Formation and debut Prior to the group's debut, some of the members were already involved in the entertainment industry. Yoona had gone through about 200 auditions for music videos, dramas, and movies before becoming a singer for Girls' Generation. Sooyoung was exposed to the Japanese music scene as a member of a pop duo named Route 0, which disbanded one year after its debut in 2002. The first member of the group to join SM Entertainment's training system was Jessica in 2000, after she and her sister, Krystal Jung, were scouted in a mall in South Korea during a family vacation. That same year, members Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were cast into S.M.'s training system through the 2000 S.M. Open Audition, in which Hyoyeon danced for her audition. Yuri was the next Girls' Generation member to become an S.M. trainee after coming second in the 2001 S.M. Youth Best Dancer competition. Yoona was cast the following year through the 2002 S.M. Saturday Open Casting Audition, where she sang and danced to her favorite singers, BoA and Britney Spears. Seohyun, the group's youngest member, was scouted in the subway by an S.M. scout; she then auditioned in 2003, singing children's songs. The group's leader, Taeyeon, was cast in 2004 after winning first place in the S.M. Youth Singing Competition. That same year, member Tiffany auditioned at S.M.'s Starlight Casting System in Los Angeles, and joined the company in October 2004. The final member of the group to be added was Sunny, who had become an S.M. trainee in 1998 and trained for five years before moving to another company, Starworld. At Starworld, she trained to debut in a duo named Sugar, which never debuted. In 2007, on the recommendation of Korean-Japanese singer IconiQ, Sunny