Korean name
Korean names are names that place their origin in, or are used in, Korea. A Korean name in the modern era typically consists of a surname followed by a given name, with no middle names. A number of Korean terms for names exist. For full names, , , or are commonly used. When a Korean name is written in Hangul, there is usually no space between the surname and the given name.
Most Korean surnames consist of a single syllable, although multisyllabic surnames exist. In South Korea, upon marriage, both partners keep their full names, but children inherit the father's surname unless otherwise specified during the marriage registration process. Koreans have been historically grouped into Korean clans. Each clan is identified by a and the surname of the founder of the clan. For example, the Jeonju Yi clan comes from Jeonju and descends from. In 2000, a census showed that, in total, there were 286 surnames and 4,179 clans. However, the four most common surnames are shared by nearly half of South Koreans.
Given names usually have two syllables, although names with one, three, or more syllables also exist. Generation names are also traditional, although now increasingly less common. In North Korea, the generational syllable is shared only among siblings, but in the South, it is shared by all members of the same generation. The use of given names is guided by a strict system of honorifics; it can be rude to refer to a stranger or person of higher social status by their given name. Perceived gender in names is less consistent than in Western names.
Naming practices have changed over time. Surnames were once exclusively used by royalty and nobility, but eventually became acceptable for lower class usage. Even until 1910, more than half of Koreans did not have a surname. While now significantly less common, Confucian and cultural traditions dictate systems of naming taboos, childhood names, courtesy names, art names, and posthumous names. Until the invention of the Korean alphabet Hangul in the 15th century, most Korean names were written using Chinese characters. While many names can still be written entirely in Hanja, some are now exclusively written in Hangul. In 2015, 7.7% of people had Hangul-only names. During the Japanese occupation of Korea, beginning in 1939, Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names and naming practices. They were allowed to return to using Korean names following the 1945 liberation of Korea.
Terms
A number of terms exist for Korean names. For the full name, is commonly used. This is a compound word; refers to the surname, and to the given name. The native Korean term can be used to refer to either the full name or the given name.A more formal term for the full name is . This term is relatively commonly used during transactions or in official settings. It is commonly said in the phrase.Image:Distribution of South Korean family names.svg|thumb|right|Over half of South Koreans have the following five surnames :
Surnames
| Korean | Hanja | Revised | MR | Common spellings |
| 김 | 金 | Gim | Kim | Kim, Gim |
| 리 이 | 李 | I | Ri I | Lee, Rhee, Yi |
| 박 | 朴 | Bak | Pak | Park, Pak, Bak |
| 최 | 崔 | Choe | Ch'oe | Choi, Choe, Chue |
| 정 | 鄭 | Jeong | Chŏng | Jung, Chung, Jeong, Cheong |
Fewer than 300 Korean surnames were in use in 2000, and the three most common account for nearly half of the population. For various reasons, the number of Korean surnames has been increasing over time.
Each Korean person belongs to a Korean clan. Each clan can be identified by a surname from a patrilineal ancestor and a place of origin. For example, the most populous clan is the Gimhae Kim clan: they descend from Kim Suro and identify the city of Gimhae as their origin. Clans are further subdivided into various , or branches stemming from a more recent common ancestor, so that a full identification of a person's surname would be clan-surname-branch. Until 2005, marrying other members of one's clan was illegal, although this restriction was declared unconstitutional and lifted.
In the premodern, patriarchal Korean society, people were extremely conscious of familial values and their own family identities. Korean women keep their surnames after marriage based on traditional reasoning that it is inherited from their parents and ancestors, and cannot be changed. According to traditions, each clan publishes a comprehensive genealogy book every 30 years. Around a dozen two-syllable surnames are used, all of which rank after the 100 most common surnames. The five most common surnames, which together make up over half of the Korean population, are used by over 20 million people in South Korea.
History
Historically, surnames were exclusive to royalty and nobility in ancient Korea, only gradually filtering down to the general population during the Goryeo era. The lowest classes, including slaves, remained without surnames until much later. During the Joseon era, particularly after devastating wars like the Imjin War, the government began selling official positions and even aristocratic status to commoners to raise funds. This created an opportunity for social mobility. Newly wealthy commoners would often fabricate illustrious family histories, fabricating jokbo to insert themselves into prominent clans, sometimes claiming Chinese ancestry to avoid scrutiny. This led to a widespread industry of jokbo forgery.Crucially, the practice of selling status eventually extended to the lowest classes, allowing them to purchase commoner status and, with it, the right to adopt surnames. This contributed to a significant erosion of the class system. By the time the class system was officially abolished in 1894, nearly all Koreans had adopted surnames. This historical trend explains the high concentration of a few common surnames, as many simply adopted popular, prestigious names.
Modern era
After the 2015 census, it was revealed that foreign-origin surnames were becoming more common in South Korea, due to naturalised citizens transcribing their surnames in Hangul. Between 2000 and 2015, more than 4,800 new surnames were registered. During the census, a total of 5,582 distinct surnames were collected, 73% of which do not have corresponding Hanja characters. It was also revealed that despite the surge in the number of surnames, the ratio of top 10 surnames had not changed. 44.6% of South Koreans are still named Kim, Lee or Park, while the rest of the top 10 are made up of Choi, Jeong, Kang, Jo, Yoon, Jang and Lim.Children traditionally take their father's surname. However, under South Korean Civil Law effective January 1, 2008, children may be legally given the surname of either parent or even that of a step-parent.
Given names
Traditionally, given names are partly determined by generation names, a custom originating in China. One of the two characters in a given name is unique to the individual, while the other is shared by all people in a family generation. In both North and South Koreas, generational names are usually no longer shared by cousins, but are still commonly shared by siblings.Given names are typically composed of Hanja, or Chinese characters. In North Korea, the Hanja are no longer used to write the names, but the meanings are still understood; for example, the syllable in boys' names is usually perceived as, which means "iron".
In South Korea, Article 37 of the Regulations on Registration of Family Relations requires that the Hanja in personal names be taken from a restricted list. Unapproved Hanja must be represented by Hangul in the family relations register. In March 1991, the Supreme Court of Korea published the List of Hanja for Use in Personal Names which allowed a total of 2,854 Hanja in new South Korean given names, and put it into effect starting April 1 of the same year. The list was expanded several times; the latest update was in 2022. Currently, more than 8,000 Hanja are permitted in South Korean names, in addition to a small number of variant forms. The use of an official list is similar to Japan's use of the jinmeiyō kanji.
The List of Hanja for Use in Personal Names merely shows what characters are currently allowed to be registered. It cannot always be used to determine someone's existing Hanja name because of the following reasons:
- People who were named before April 1, 1991, did not have any restrictions on Hanja names. Their names can contain Hanja that are not even in the list.
- The list is sometimes updated to include more Hanja. A character currently in the list may not be in older versions of the list.
Unless a given name contains a syllable that does not have any corresponding Hanja at all ), there is no guarantee that a name which may look like a native Korean name never has Hanja. A certain name written in Hangul can be a native Korean name, or a Sino-Korean name, or even both. For example, Bo-ram can not only be a native Korean name, but can also be a Sino-Korean name. In some cases, parents intend a dual meaning: both the meaning from a native Korean word and the meaning from Hanja.
Originally, there was no legal limitation on the length of names in South Korea. As a result, some people registered extremely long given names, such as the 16-syllable . However, beginning in 1993, new regulations required that the given name be five syllables or shorter.
A family relations certificate of an individual lists the person concerned, the person's parents, spouse, and children. If there is more than one person with the same name in a family relations certificate, it is difficult to identify the person. Therefore, an individual is not allowed to have the same name as someone appearing in one's parent's family relations certificate – in other words, a child cannot have the same name as one's parents and grandparents.