Yoon (Korean surname)


Yoon is a family name in Korea, which means "governor". The name is sometimes also transliterated as Yun, Yune, Yiun, or Youn. According to the 2000 census, 948,600 people had the surname in South Korea. It derives from the Chinese character 尹. In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 48.9% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as Yoon in their passports, while 40.6% spelled it as Yun and 9.9% spelled it as Youn. Other alternative spellings included Yooun, Yune, Joon and Yeoun.

Clans and history

Papyeong clan

The Papyeong Yoon clan, which has its seat in Papyeong-myeon, Paju City, is the most well-known Yoon clan. The 2000 South Korean census found 221,433 households claiming membership in the Papyeong clan, with a total population of 713,947.
The clan's founding ancestor is General Yun Sindal, who assisted Wang Kŏn in founding the Goryeo Dynasty.
Yun Kwan was a renowned general in the Goryeo Dynasty. He helped form the Pyŏlmuban forces to fight and defeat the Jurchen tribes in 1107.
In 2002, a mummified woman with an unborn fetus was discovered in the tomb of Yun Jeong-jeong, a member of the Papyeong Yun clan. It is believed she was the granddaughter of Yun Wŏnhyŏng, the brother of Queen Munjeong.
Several Papyeong Yun women became queens during the early Joseon Dynasty, they include Queen Jeonghyeon, Queen Jeonghui, Queen Munjeong and Queen Janggyeong.
Papyeong clan has a tradition of shunning the consumption of carps due to its connection with Yun Kwan.

Haepyeong clan

Last ruling Empress, Empress Sunjeong, was from another Yoon clan, Haepyeong Yun. The first Haepyeong Yoon was a person named Yoon GoonJeong from the Goryeo Danasty. According to the 2000 census, 26,000 people belong to this clan.
Yun Po-sun the second president of South Korea is a distant relative of Sunjeong.

Family feud

When the tomb of Yun Kwan was rediscovered in the 18th century, it sparked a 300-year-old family feud between the Yun and Sim Clan. The reason for the feud was because a member of the Sim clan was buried uphill from Yun Kwan's tomb, destroying part of the original tomb in the process. The feud was finally settled in 2008.

Notable people

Yoon