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Korea. Names, surnames, addresses to each other

Korea. Names, surnames, addresses to each other

04.05.2019

If you want to give your newborn baby some exotic name, then turning to the Korean list will be the right decision. It sounds beautiful, sonorous and unusual. But if you are of Korean origin, you should be more thoughtful in choosing a name for your baby. Like all other peoples, the name of the child encodes not only his family affiliation, but also his fate. At least the one his parents want for him. In this article, we will list beautiful Korean names and describe their meanings so that you can make your choice.

Namesakes and namesakes

In all countries, it is much more common to meet a person with the same name than with the same surname. In Korea, the opposite is true. There are not even two hundred and ninety surnames in the whole country. And the most common are three in general: Kim, Lee and Pak. So meeting a namesake in Korea is not a strange thing, but a pattern. However, this person will not necessarily be your relative. Twenty million people in the southern part of the country alone have five common surnames. But to meet a namesake among these people is quite difficult. Korean names are very numerous. And very often they do not know sexual differentiation. That is, the same name can be worn by both a man and a woman. But a person's own, unique designation is written in one or two hieroglyphs. Tollimcha is added to them - a syllable common to the entire generation of this family. Therefore, the names of brothers, sisters and even cousins sound very similar.

Writing

Korean given names are mostly two-syllable, while surnames, on the contrary, are very short. But since the name of a person and his family affiliation are written in hieroglyphs (in Hangul or Khanch), then in Latin or Cyrillic transcription they are indicated with a space and with a capital letter. But they should be pronounced together. It's like writing Key Rill or Ol Ga. In drawing up the designation of a Korean, the surname is put first, and then the given name. If it happens that the first consists of more than one syllable, the second must be very short. For example, a Korean singer named Somun goes by the name Tak. But usually two syllables of the individual name of a person complete the short designation of the genus. If you are not a Korean, but just want to give your son or daughter one of the names of this people, you may not know these subtleties. However, in the traditional system of values, it is important to take into account all these nuances of the pedigree.

How do Koreans come up with names?

Since the list of surnames in this country is deplorably short, there was a need for a huge number of individual names. It is necessary to somehow distinguish between several million Kims or Packs. Korean names were compiled along three lines. The first is euphony and (most importantly) a good combination with a surname. The second is beautiful writing so that the hieroglyphs look organic. And the third direction - like other peoples - is the meaning of the name. But this latter was not given much importance in traditional Korea. Hieroglyphs such as a lake and a cloud were mixed, it turned out to be Wan Ho. Recently, borrowing of names from other languages and cultures has become widespread in South Korea. But they are still written in hieroglyphs: Khan Na, Da Vid.

We have already mentioned that in this country it is difficult to determine what kind of person is hidden behind his generic and individual name - he is a man or a woman. But still, most often girls are given names whose meaning reflects the qualities that parents would like to give their daughter. This is quite understandable. After all, among other nations, daughters are called Roses, Lilies, Margaritas, etc. Korean names of girls are also not without such logic. Therefore, there is Lien (lotus), Mei (flower), Nguyet (moon), Hong (rose), Tu (star). What mother does not want her daughter's female happiness? Therefore, there are such names as Jung (love), Kui (jewel), Jung (prosperous). At the same time, girls are often wished courage (Yuong), wisdom (Hyun), courage (Dung), peace (Lan). The following popular names are common for girls and boys: Ha Neul (sky), Ah Reum (beauty), Kip Pum (joy), and Seul (dew, purity). From China came the fashion to identify girls with precious stones or metals. An example of this is Kim (gold), Beach (jade).

The son in the traditions of this people has always been the successor of the family and the further guardian of his parents. Therefore, when naming him, not only the beautiful sound of his name was taken into account, but also the meaning of the latter. Parents tried to "code" their son, to give him the qualities that they wanted to see in him. Vien means the Finisher (every business). The name Dinh is no less popular. It means "top". It is implied that Dinh will always reach the zenith of all his endeavors. Similar name to Jin Ho, which means "leader". In the families of military boys, they often call Yong Kuan - "Brave Soldier". The name Hye is very popular - honoring parents. Just as girls are called flowers, boys are named after animals. The popular name Ho is a tiger. We repeat once again: Koreans combine these monosyllabic words with others. This is how new and unusual names are obtained.

Korean names are:

Korean names Korean name

Korean name consists of a surname followed by a personal name.

In most cases, the surname consists of one syllable, and the name of two syllables. Both the given name and surname are often written in hanja, Chinese characters that reflect Korean pronunciation. Hanja is no longer used in North Korea, and their use for given names in South Korea has been reduced to 5,038 characters. When using European languages, some Koreans retain the traditional spelling order, while others change it according to the Western pattern. In Korea, a woman usually keeps her maiden name when she marries.

Only about 250 surnames are used in Korea. The most common of them are Kim, Lee and Pak. However, most namesakes are not close relatives. The origin of Korean surnames is closely related to Korean history and geography. There are many clans, each of which is associated with a particular place, such as the Kims of Gimhae. In most cases, each clan traces its ancestry back to a common male ancestor.

In Korean history, the use of given names has changed. Ancient names in Korean occurred during the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC - 668 AD), but over time, as the Chinese script was adopted, they were supplanted by names written in Chinese characters. During periods of Mongol and Manchu influence, the ruling elite supplemented their Korean names with Mongolian and Manchu names. In addition, during the period of Japanese occupation in the early 20th century, Koreans were forcibly given Japanese names.

45 percent of Koreans have the last name Kim, Lee and Park

Review

Surnames

The five most common surnames Hangul Khanchcha New romanization Kontsevich's system Transcription options


김	金	gim	Kim
리 (C) 이 (South)	李	Ri (C) I (South)	Lee (S) I (South)	Lee, Rey
박	朴	Bak	Pack
정	鄭丁	Jeong	chon	Jeon, Jeon
최	崔	Choe	Choi	Choi, Choi, Choi

In total, about 250 surnames are used in Korea. Each of the surnames can bear several clans ( pongwans) identified geographically. For example, the most numerous clan is Gimhae Kim, that is, the Kim clan from the city of Gimhae. At the end of the 20th century, there were more than 3 thousand clans in Korea, the largest of which had hundreds of thousands and millions of people, such as Kim from Gimhae, Lee from Jeonju and Gyeongju, Paki from Miryan. As in other East Asian cultures, women in Korea usually keep their surname after marriage, however, children take on their father's surname. According to tradition, each clan must publish its family tree ( chokpo) every 30 years.

The origin of Korean surnames was greatly influenced by the Chinese tradition. Most Korean surnames consist of a single hanja character, and thus a single syllable. There are about a dozen two-syllable surnames (the most common are Namgun and Hwangpo), but they are all outside the top hundred on the list of the most common. Most of them use non-trivial compound Chinese names. The five most common surnames are borne by more than 20 million people in South Korea. There are a great many personal names in Korea and they are practically not divided by gender, that is, they can belong to both a man and a woman.

Names

Both the top and bottom lines are the spelling of the Korean name Hong Gil Dong. The top line is in Hangul, the bottom line is in Hanchcha. In both cases, the last name Hon highlighted in yellow.

Traditionally, the names of boys are determined by the name of the generation, this tradition came from China. One or two characters in the name of a Korean are unique, while others are common to all family members of the same generation. Therefore, the names of cousins usually have the same syllable ( tollimcha) at a given location. In North Korea, generational names are the same for closer siblings.

The name consists of hieroglyphs hanchcha, but it is usually written in hangul. In North Korea, hanja is practically not used, but the meanings of the hieroglyphs have remained. For example, a syllable cheol(Kor. 철, 鐵), used in the name of boys, means "iron". In South Korea, paragraph 37 of the Family Registry Law Family Registry Law) requires that hanja in names be selected from a predefined list. If the hanja for the name is not selected from the list, it is written in hangul in the family registry. In March 1991, the South Korean Supreme Court published the List of Hanja Characters for Use in Names, which allows a total of 2,854 different characters (and 61 alternative forms) to be used for names. In 1994, 1997, 2001 and 2005, this list was expanded and now it consists of 5,038 allowed characters.

Although traditions are still strong, since the late 1970s, some parents have given their children personal names, which are originally Korean words, usually consisting of two syllables. Popular names made up of Korean words are Haneul (하늘; "sky"), Ahreum (아름; "beauty"), Kippum (기쁨; "joy"), and Yisul (이슬; "purity", lit. "dew") . Despite the trend away from traditional practice, people's names are still recorded in official documents, family genealogies, etc. in both Hangul and Hanja (if possible).

Names usually consist of two syllables, in rare cases - of one or three, as, for example, the names of politicians Kim Goo, Ko Kun and Yong Kaesomun. Koreans with last names consisting of two syllables usually have a name consisting of one syllable, such as the singer Somun Tak.

Transcription

Romanization

In English-speaking countries, the three most common last names are "Kim" (김), "Lee" or "Rhee" (리, 이) and "Park" (박). Despite the official romanization of the Korean language, which is used to translate place names and other names into Latin, in both North and South Korea, romanization of Korean names is carried out according to phonetic transcription. That is, the surname "Lee" can be written in Latin as "I", "Yi", "Rhee" and "Rhie". In North Korea, the pronunciation is 리 ( ri), and in the South - the pronunciation 이 ( And). The same applies to several other families.

Cyrillicization

For the Cyrillicization of the Korean language in general and names in particular, the Kontsevich system is most widely used, which separately stipulates the rules and recommendations for the transliteration of Korean names. In Russian, a Korean name is usually written in three (or two) separate words, each of which consists of one syllable. The surname comes first, followed by the given name at birth, for example, Lee Seung-man, Kim Dae-jung. Despite this, Kontsevich recommends writing two-syllable names and surnames together, for example, Kang Gamchan, Li Gyubo. Traditionally, Russian-language literature preserved the spelling of Korean names based on the North Korean version, for example, Choi instead of Choi, but this tradition is now breaking down, however, it is recommended to keep the spelling of such surnames as Lee (and not I), Liu (and not Yu), Lim (and not Im ).

Among Koreans living in the countries of the former USSR, there are often surnames like Hegai, Yugai, Ohai. These are modified (by adding a suffix -guy) short surnames Yu (Lu), He, O and the like.

Usage

The use of names and calling by name has strict rules and restrictions in traditional Korean society. In Korean culture, it is considered rude to call a person by their personal name, except for their closest friends. This is especially important when referring to an older person. This rule is often a source of difficulty for Korean language learners.

There are many words that allow you to complete the real name of a person. Among adults of the same social status, it is considered normal to address each other by adding the suffix to the full name ssi(씨氏). However, it is impolite to refer to a person by their surname only, even using this suffix. If the person being addressed has an official status, they are usually addressed by the name of this status (for example, "manager" or "boss"), often with a respectful suffix him(님). In such cases, a personal name may also be added, although this usually indicates that the one who is addressing is of a higher status.

Teknonymy is common in Korean society, the custom of naming a married person (a married woman) by the name of his or her child. It is quite common to refer to a mother by her eldest son's name, such as "Cheol Soo's Mom" (철수 엄마). However, teknonymy can have any of the parents and any of the children in the family as its objects, depending on the context.

Among children and close friends, calling each other by their first names is not disrespectful. Nicknames are often used as well.

Story

Korean names have changed over time. The first names that appeared in the chronicles date back to the early Three Kingdoms period, when the Korean Peninsula was heavily influenced by Chinese culture, as China eventually became the dominant power in the region. Changes continued during the following periods of Korean history - the Unified Silla state, the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. For the yangban-ranking aristocracy, a complex system of alternative names was used, which was born in the Joseon era. This system, including court names, posthumous names, birth names, and pen names, grew out of the Confucian tradition. The court naming system is based on Book of Ceremonies, one of the five key books of Confucianism. This system first came to Korea during the Three Kingdoms, but very few aristocrats of that time are known to have had a court name (among them was Sol Cheon 설총 薛聰, for example). This tradition only became widespread during the late Goryeo Dynasty, when the influence of Confucianism in the country began to seriously increase.

According to the chronicle Samguk Sagi, the first surnames were given to the people by the Vans. For example, in 33 A.D. BC, Wang Yuri gave the names of the six nobles of the state to Lee (이), Bae (배), Choi (최), Chon (정), Song (손) and Sol (설). However, this theory is not widely accepted by modern historians, who believe that Sinicized names came into use about five hundred years after the events described in Samguk Sagi.

Ancient Korean names

Before the spread of the Chinese-style naming system, Koreans had their own naming system. With the exception of the aristocracy, most Koreans in antiquity did not have surnames. Personal names sometimes consisted of three syllables, such as Misahung (미사흔; 未斯欣) or Sadaham (사다함; 斯多含). Under the influence of Chinese culture in the first millennium of our era, surnames also became widespread among Koreans. At first they appeared among the Vans, then spread among the aristocracy, and finally reached the common people, but this happened rather late - until the 19th century, most commoners did not have surnames ..

In the ancient Korean states of Goguryeo and Baekje, non-Chinese surnames were common, which often consisted of two syllables, and it is believed that most of them were place names. According to Japanese chronicles, some of the characters used to record surnames were not pronounced in Chinese, but in Korean. For example, the governor from Goguryeo Yong Kaesomun (연개소문; 淵蓋蘇文) in the Japanese chronicle nihon shoki referred to as Iri Kasumi (伊梨柯須弥). The word "iri" may have meant "fountain" in the Goguryeo language. Early Silla names are also believed to be ancient Korean words, such as the name Park Hyokose (朴赫居世) pronounced something like "Palgonuri" (발거누리), which translates to "bright world".

Mongolian influence

During the short period of Mongol occupation during the Goryeo Dynasty era, Korean wangs and aristocracy had both Mongol and Sino-Korean names. For example, Wang Kongmin had the Mongolian name Bayan Temur and the Sino-Korean name Wang Gi (王祺) (later Wang Jeong, 王顓).

Japanese influence

Main article: Sosi-kaimei

During the period of Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945), Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names. In 1939, as part of the policy of cultural assimilation (Jap. 同化政策 do: ka seisaku?), administered by the Governor-General of Korea, Jiro Minami, issued Decree No. 20 (known as the "Decree of Names", 창씨개명), enacted into law in April 1940. He allowed (in practice forced) Koreans to adopt Japanese surnames and given names. Although coercion was officially prohibited by the Japanese colonial government, local officials forced Koreans to Japaneseize their names, with the result that by 1944, about 84% of the Korean population had Japanese surnames. However, many Koreans close to the ruling elite (among them Hong Sa Ik, the general of the Army of the Japanese Empire, is the most famous) withstood this pressure and retained their national names.

After the liberation of Korea, on October 23, 1946, the American military command in Korea issued the Name Restoration Order (조선 성명 복구령; 朝鮮姓名復舊令), allowing all Koreans south of the 38th parallel to return their national names.

Notes

1 2 The Republic of Korea. National Bureau of Statistics. For North Korea, detailed statistics are not available, but the numbers do not vary significantly. A list of the 22 most common surnames and an approximate spread for both parts of Korea can be found here:
U.S. Library of Congress, Traditional Family Life.
Nahm, pp. 33-34.
South Korea, Family Registry Law
National Academy of the Korean Language (1991)
Areum (아름) in the first sense - "beauty", in the second - one girth of a tree or an armful of flowers.
Although the "I" romanization is rare, it is the only true romanization within the official system for translating Korean into Latin. It is used, for example, by the Yonhap news agency.
The Northern Forum (2006), p. 29.
1 2 Ri 2005, p. 182.
Hwang (1991), p. 9.
Naver Encyclopedia, Nickname (별명別名).
Lee, Hong-jik (1983), p. 1134.
Seol Cheon's court name, Cheongji (총지 聰智), is mentioned in Samguk Sagi.
Do (1999).
Do (1999), sec. 2.
Do (1999), sec. 3.
Lee, Hong-jik (1983), p. 117.
U.S. Library of Congress, Korea Under Japanese Rule.
1 2 Nahm (1996), p. 223. See also Empas, "창씨개명."
"... 84% of the population of Korea had Japanese surnames" formally, that is, according to the passport. In practice, in everyday communication, the vast majority of Koreans used Korean names.

Literature

자 (Cha, court name) // 새國史事典 (Se kuksa sajŏn, Encyclopedia of Korean History / Lee, Hong-jik (이홍직). - Seoul: Kyohaksa, 1983. - P. 117, 1134. - ISBN ISBN 89- 09-00506-8
A new history of Korea (rev. ed., tr. by Edward W. Wagner and Edward J. Shultz. - Seoul: Ilchokak, 1984. - ISBN ISBN 89-337-0204-0
Korea: Tradition and Transformation - A History of the Korean People. - Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym International, 1988. - ISBN ISBN 0-930878-56-6
The Northern Forum (2006), The Northern Forum Protocol Manual. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
올바른 우리말 사용법 (Olbaryn urimal sayonbŏp, Speak Korean correctly). - 2005. - ISBN ISBN 89-5913-118-0
U.S. Library of Congress. Korea Under Japanese Rule & Traditional Family Life Country Studies/Area Handbook Series. Retrieved August 10, 2006.
Korea Annual 2004. - Seoul: Author, 2004. - ISBN ISBN 89-7433-070-9

Links

Lankov Andrey. Korean surnames and given names
How to write Korean names in Russian?
Lankov Andrey. What are Koreans called?
Korean given names and surnames
Korean bonds (poi). From the book. Korean customs and traditions / Comp. CHOI Yong-geun, YANG Won-sik. Almaty, 2007

Names National Know Religious See also


Full name and forms of address: first name surname patronymic middle name title nickname pseudonym
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List of eponyms Namesake Identifier

Help me come up with a first and last name for a Korean girl and a guy

Sergey k$a

Popular Korean girl names and their meaning:
Beach. Interpreted as "jade".
Bao. Translated into Russian - "protection".
Van. Means "cloud".
Dung. Translated as "brave".
Jin-ho. The meaning of the name is "precious lake".
Jung. Interpreted as "love".
Young. It has two meanings "eternal" and "prosperous".
Kui. Has the translation "precious".
Kim. It means "gold".
Lan. Means "peaceful".
Lien. In Russian - "lotus".
May. It means "flower".
Monkut. Means "crown".
Nguet. Interpreted as "moon".
Puong. The meaning of the word "phoenix".
That. So the Koreans call the "star".
Trey. Translated "oyster".
Tien. It means "spirit" or "fairy".
Thai. Translated as "Friendly".
Thuan. Means "tamed".
Hyun. Interpreted as "wise".
Hong. Meaning "rose".
Chow. Russian for "pearl".
Yuong. It means "bravery".
male Korean names
Korean names for boys have individual meanings. They express the hopes of parents for their son. The following characters are often used to compose Korean male names:
Binh. Interpreted as "peace".
Vienna. Means "completion".
Vinh. Translated as "bay".
Dinh. In Russian "top".
Jin-ho. The semantic meaning is "leader" or "evil hero".
Duong. Interpreted as "courageous".
En. Translated as "peace".
Yong. Means "brave".
Quan. Russian for "soldier".
Kuang. It is interpreted as "pure".
Lan. It means "peaceful".
Nguyen. Translated as "beginning".
Nung. It means "velvet".
Pakpao. Translated as "paper kite".
Juice. Translated as "stone".
Sunan. Means "good word".
Thai. It means "friendly".
Tuet. Koreans call it "white snow".
Thu. In Russian "autumn".
Hanyul. Interpreted as "heavenly"
Ho. Means tiger.
Heh - "respects parents."
Today in Korea, many male Korean names are popular, which are very easy to pronounce in English, for example, Jaein - Zhang.

Korean given names and surnames

Plays in columns - Epik High - 우산 (feat. 윤하)
One of the most common questions that any person dealing with Korea and Koreans has to deal with is the question of Korean names and surnames. Indeed, ignorance of many features of Korean surnames and names often leads to misunderstandings and funny situations. I hope that this article will help our readers to avoid such situations.
Korean surnames are usually one-syllable, and they are always written before the name. There are also several two-syllable surnames (the most common of them are Namgun and Hwangpo), but they are extremely rare: carriers of all two-syllable surnames together make up less than 0.1% of all Koreans. Korean names, on the contrary, usually consist of two syllables, although they can be monosyllabic (monosyllabic names are about 10-15%).
Thus, a typical Korean name has three syllables. The first is the surname, and the second and third are the given name. For example, in the case of current South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun (노무현), "No" is the family name and "Moo Hyun" is the given name. His predecessor was named Kim Tae-jung (김대중), and readers will easily guess that "Tae-jung" was the personal name of this venerable politician who goes by the surname Kim, the most common in Korea.
In this regard, one cannot but regret that, according to the established tradition in Russia, Korean names, as a rule, are written down "in three words": Lee Syngman, Kim Il Sung, etc. Such a notation is largely misleading, hiding the structure of the Korean name. Much more preferable is the tradition that has developed in the Russian transmission of Chinese names. In their structure, Chinese names are very close to Korean ones. However, in Russian the current Chinese leader is referred to as Jiang Ze-min or Jiang Zemin: the surname is separate, the given name is combined or hyphenated. Korean scholars in special articles also prefer to write both syllables of a Korean name together, but such a system somehow does not take root in Russian newspapers.
Almost all Korean names are of Chinese origin. They are written in hieroglyphs (according to the principle "one hieroglyph - one syllable"), and their pronunciation goes back to ancient Chinese. With surnames, the situation is somewhat more complicated: they are also written in hieroglyphs, but very often a certain Korean word is hidden behind one or another Sinicized form.
Unlike Russia, there are few surnames in Korea - and a great many names. Strictly speaking, there are simply no fixed names in our understanding in Korea. The Korean name is a combination of two characters with a suitable meaning. Fortune-tellers, who are usually engaged in the selection of names, follow certain rules, but in general, hieroglyphs can be combined with each other quite freely. The most suitable for names, of course, are those characters that express various kinds of positive qualities - wisdom ("hyeon" 현/賢), beauty ("mi" 미/美), respect for parents ("hyo" 효/孝), honesty ("chon"), etc. Chinese names of all kinds of animals, plants and in general objects of the material world are also used in the names - for example, tiger ("ho" 호 / 虎), flower ("hwa" 화 / 花), stone ("juice" 석 / 石), fire ( "hwa" 화/火). However, almost any of the 70 thousand Chinese characters can be included in the composition of the Korean name - it all depends on the circumstances and parental imagination.
Taking the names of current Korean leaders as an example, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's name includes the characters "mu" (무/武 martial, brave in battle) and "hyeon" 현/鉉 (support). His North Korean counterpart is known to be Kim Jong Il, although at least from a South Korean point of view, his name should have been transcribed as Kim Jong Il. The name of the North Korean Grand Leader consists of two characters - "chon" (정/正 honest, honesty, truth) and "il" (일/日 sun), and can be translated as "true sun".
The number of even the most common "personal hieroglyphs" is measured in hundreds. It is clear that many thousands of pairs of such characters are possible, and it is not surprising that there are very few namesakes, people with the same names, in Korea. Even when the personal names of two Koreans sound the same, they are usually written with different characters (many characters that are read differently in China itself are pronounced the same in Korea). Sometimes this leads to curiosities. For example, the Lee Sun-sin submarine is part of the Korean Navy. Its name seems quite logical - who (of those who have been to Korea - ed.) has not heard of the great Korean naval commander? Only those few who saw the name of this warship in hieroglyphic (and not phonetic) records know that it is not named after "the same" Lee Sun-sin! The boat bears the name of the "other" Lee Sun-sin - also an admiral, who also lived in the 16th century, and also became famous in battles with the Japanese. The names of the two naval commanders, who, by the way, were colleagues and friends, are pronounced the same in Korean 이순신, but they are written with different characters (李純信 and 李舜臣). Therefore, it is possible to translate a Korean name with full confidence only if you know how it is written "in Chinese" (more precisely, in Chinese characters).
Male and female names as such do not exist in Korea, although sometimes you can guess whether a particular name belongs to a man or a woman - especially if it is written not in the Korean alphabet, but in hieroglyphics. For example, the bearer of the name "Meng Ho" ("brave tiger") is most likely a male, but the name "Mi Suk" ("beautiful and chaste") almost certainly belongs to a woman. However, most Korean names do not carry any "gender characteristics" and can belong to both a man and a woman.
Another rule is connected with the formation of names - one of the hieroglyphs of the name of the brothers often coincides - and this applies not only to relatives or, say, cousins, but to all representatives of the same generation of the clan (we will talk about Korean clans later). Thus, if you see entrepreneur Roh Yong-hyun or sociologist Roh Jong-hyun mentioned in the Korean press, you can be sure that they are relatives of the current president. All members of the "presidential generation" of the No clan have the second hieroglyph of the name - "hyeon".
It must be remembered that in Korea it is not customary to address each other only by their first names. Such treatment has always been considered extremely familiar, and in many situations - just insulting. Childhood friends can call each other by name, parents call their children by name - that's probably all. In recent years, spouses and lovers have sometimes begun to talk to each other in this way - apparently under the influence of Western traditions. In most cases, however, Koreans refer to each other by their surnames or by their surname and first name.
On the other hand, there are few surnames in Korea. The 1985 census - the last one for which I have data - registered 298 surnames in South Korea. Yes - only 298 surnames in the whole country! Then, out of 44 million 420 thousand Koreans, the surname Kim was 8 million 785 thousand, Lee - 5 million 985 thousand, Pak - 3 million 436 thousand, Choi (in Russia it is written as Tsoi) - 1 million 913 thousand. and Chon - 1 million 781 thousand people. This means that every fifth Korean had the surname Kim, every eighth - Lee. Other common surnames include Kan, Cho, Yun, Chan, Lim, Han, Sim, Oh, So (the number of carriers of each of these surnames in 1985 exceeded 600 thousand people). Carriers of all these 13 surnames, taken together, make up 60% of the country's population! There is no doubt that these figures apply not only to South Koreans, but to Koreans in general.
In addition to the surname (성/姓 "son") and given name (명/名 "myeon") in the old days, any educated Korean also had a pseudonym (호/號 "ho"). He chose this pseudonym on his own, upon reaching adulthood, and used it very widely. By tradition, the pseudonym was written before the name. Usually it consisted of two hieroglyphs, although there were also four-syllable pseudonyms. For example, an outstanding philosopher and publicist of the first half of the 19th century was called if you write his name in full, as it is given in historical reference books - "Tasan Chung Yak Yong" 다산 정약용. Here, "dasan" (다산/茶山 lit. "tea mountain", "mountain overgrown with tea bushes") is his pseudonym, Jung is his last name, and Yak Yeon is his given name. It is curious that in many modern texts he is called Chong Ta San (or Chong Da San): the pseudonym supplanted the name.
Pseudonyms are relatively rare these days, although they are still used by some cultural figures, especially among South Korean village writers and other fans of the lost way of the old Korean life.
The Korean system of names and surnames acquired its current form quite recently, at the end of the 19th century. Prior to this, the situation was much different. First, historically, commoners in Korea (like most other countries) did not have surnames. The surname was the privilege of the nobles, and the peasants were called only by their first name. In addition, the names of commoners were, as a rule, not of Chinese, but of Korean origin, and because of this, they could not really be written down in official papers, which were compiled in hieroglyphs in ancient Chinese. Only from the 15th-16th centuries, peasants began to use surnames and given names of the Chinese type. At the same time, at first, surnames were distributed only among free peasants, while numerous serfs (nobi) remained "without surnames" until the final abolition of serfdom in 1894.
Secondly, in old Korea, women - even in noble families - did not have official (that is, hieroglyphic, Chinese) names. They were called by their surname, often with the addition of a generic index, "pona". In official documents, a woman always appeared as "daughter of so-and-so" or "wife of so-and-so." In the family, as a rule, she was called by the name of the child - "the mother of such and such." Only in 1909 did a law begin to operate that required that any Korean - regardless of gender and age - must have a first and last name.
In addition to the family itself, any Korean has long been a member of an extensive clan group, which includes all people with the same surname and the same "pon" - a geographical name that indicates the area from which the real or mythical ancestor of this clan originated. Bearers of the same surname may have different "pon" and belong to different clans. For example, there are Kims from Gimhae, Kims from Gyeongju, Kims from Gwangsan, Kims from Gimnyeon, Kims from Andong, and so on. In total, there are 285 clans whose members bear the surname Kim. The second most common Korean surname, Lee, is represented by 241 clans. There are 128 clans among the Pak, each of which has its own "pon" (or, as it is often called, "pongwan").
Of course, this does not mean that today all or even any noticeable number of representatives of this clan live in the area after which the clan is named. Members of the same clan are considered relatives and are expected to actively support each other. Marriages between members of the same clan, that is, between people with the same surname and the same pon, were officially prohibited until 1995, and even now they remain rare. In the era of the Li dynasty, marriages of namesakes were also prohibited, although people with different pons were never considered relatives.
Most clans trace their roots to very distant times - almost to the 10th century. BC e. However, these claims should not be taken seriously: in their current form, the clans appeared rather late, only in the 16th-17th centuries. At the same time, the current system of pons was formed. Clans have always been very numerous formations, and in any clan one could meet both a noble nobleman and a poor peasant.
In 1995, there were 3349 clans in Korea. They can vary greatly in size - some clans include millions of members, while others number in the hundreds. In 1985, five clans had over a million members: the Kims of Gimhae, the Pakis of Miryang, the Lees of Jeongju, the Kims of Gyeongju, and the Lees of Gyeongju. In total then there were 28 clans, the number of which exceeded a quarter of a million people.
At the head of each clan is a council (jeongjinhwa), which directs the joint administration of ceremonies dedicated to the souls of ancestors and leads the education of its members in the spirit of clan traditions. It must be said that all-Korean clan councils, for all their ostentatious and carefully cultivated archaic nature, are in fact very new institutions: the first such council appeared only in 1967. Prior to that, clan activities were coordinated at the local level.
The main activities of the clan council, in addition to performing rituals of the ancestor cult, are, firstly, the cultivation of clan solidarity, and, secondly, the editing and publication of genealogical books of the Chokpo. It must be said that a Korean (at least from an educated and prosperous family) often knows his pedigree at a level that would, perhaps, do honor to a European nobleman of the 18th century, and the point here is not some special interest in "his roots", but in the fact that the study of the genealogy and history of one's clan in many families is simply mandatory.
True, most genealogies in the last century have been radically falsified. Suffice it to say that almost all Koreans now believe that they are descendants of noble families in the direct male line. Considering that before the beginning of the 19th century, the nobility made up only 3-5% of the country's population, it is impossible not to wonder where the direct descendants of peasants, artisans, fishermen and other smerds have gone. The point here is that already at the end of the 18th century, the state began to trade in noble privileges. Even more common was the sale of these rights by an impoverished noble family in private - through fictitious adoption. Finally, already in the 20th century, when the authorities stopped monitoring the compilation of genealogies, their direct falsification began: the grandchildren of smerds began to inscribe themselves in the genealogies of noble families. By the 1960s, this process reached its logical conclusion: all Koreans proclaimed themselves nobles!
And, in conclusion, a few words about the names and surnames of the Koreans of the former USSR - "koryo saram". The resettlement of Koreans to Russia took place mainly at the end of the 19th century, that is, at a time when the current system of names and surnames was already fully formed in Korea itself. Therefore, the Koreans of the former USSR have quite ordinary Korean surnames - Kim, Pak, Lee, etc. The only specific feature is the surnames with the suffix -gai: Tyagai, Ogai, Khegai and others. This suffix was added to monosyllabic surnames ending in a vowel: O became Ogai, Li became Ligai, etc.
With names, things were more complicated. At the end of the 19th century, most Korean settlers sought to convert to Orthodoxy - not so much because of religious fervor, but because of the desire to acquire Russian citizenship as soon as possible. At baptism they were given Russian names. As a rule, they were taken from the saints, so that Koreans born before 1920-25 often bore extremely archaic Russian names - Akulina, Yuvenaly, Praskovya, Methodius. In the 1920s they were replaced by the names of the usual Russian-Soviet type.
However, in the 1930s the situation has changed. Since that time, the Koreans of the USSR began to widely use the names of the "Western European model" unusual for Russia - Eduard, Angela, Herman, Mary. The reason for this is simple: a small repertoire of traditional Russian names coincided with a small repertoire of Korean surnames. As a result, a huge number of full namesakes appeared, who had the same name and surname. Considering that approximately 15% of Koreans have the surname Kim, and 15% of Russian men are called Sergeys, it is easy to calculate that in a Korean village with a population of two thousand people, on average, there should be 20-25 people with the name "Sergey Kim". The transition to "exotic names" largely solved this problem - and became the national tradition of "koryo saram".

Korean names have a number of features, in particular, they are all very short in pronunciation and are pronounced clearly and quickly. If you translate names into Russian, then any name will mean something special. Names in Korea often describe some quality of a person's character or their special features. In Asian countries, a name for a child is of great importance, much more than in other countries. Both the surname and the given name usually mean something.

It is very important for Koreans whether their child gets the right name. The situation is the same with surnames. Neither one nor the other is given just like that. If you look at the statistics, you can find 300 different variants of the origin of Korean names. This is very little. After all, even in comparison with Russian names, there are hundreds of times fewer Korean ones.

You can often meet namesakes in different regions of the country. Such an interesting fact is not accidental. After all, each surname is traditional for one of the regions. If people with the same surname live in different parts of the country, this does not mean at all that they are related. These people will belong to different family dynasties.

In Korea, it is customary to write the surname before the given name. So when a Korean name and surname appear before your eyes, you need to remember that the first syllable is always the surname of a person, and the rest are his name. So at the first acquaintance it will be possible to avoid unpleasant situations.

In America or Europe, babies are often given a double name at birth, so you might think the same when traveling to Korea. But the second syllable in a Korean name is not his middle name.

Kim is the most common surname among Koreans. According to sociological research, Kim is the surname of nearly 9 million people in Korea.. Names in Korea are not all two-syllable. So, only 12 variants of names have two syllables, the rest have only one syllable. In Korea, rare surnames are found only in a small number of people. Most of the population has common surnames.

Regardless of gender, both men and women can have the same surnames that do not decline.

The meaning and history of surnames

A name for a child in Eastern countries is of great importance. In many ways, the life path of a person depends on the name. Koreans are often jealous of foreigners, as their country does not have a very wide variety of surnames, and there are variants that are especially common. And among foreigners, such a repetition is a rarity.

So, for example, about 25% of the population of all of Korea bears the surname Kim. Lee is also a popular surname. It can be found in 15% of the population. And Pak is the third most popular surname, found in 9% of the population. She is popular with boys. Here is a list of common Korean surnames:

hwang;
Kwon;

Just like in many countries, in Korea, names have changed along with their long and eventful history. More names could depend on the region and its location. In the Middle Ages, there were three kingdoms with an early feudal system on the territory of Korea. Each of these kingdoms had its own traditional names.

Over time, under the influence of fashion and other factors, the names began to change. Old names were forgotten or adjusted to modern conditions. Now in Korea you can hardly find rare Hebrew names, but new names for girls and boys began to appear.

Some of them came from China and adapted to the Korean pronunciation.

Somewhat later, names began to be borrowed from the Mongolian language and from Manchu. This is due to historical aspects. During that period of time, Korea was attacked by these countries. The top authorities, in order to please the invaders, began to call their children the names of those countries under whose rule Korea was at the moment. Therefore, a lot of new male names appeared, and female names began to be interpreted differently.

In the last century, Korea was assimilated by Japan. During this, an order was issued according to which the invaders demanded that all names and surnames be changed from Korean to Japanese. So they tried to subjugate the conquered population as much as possible. Therefore, there were also names borrowed from Japan.

Due to the frequent conquests of the territory of Korea by China, many hieroglyphs and words were adopted from this country by the Koreans. And here's what's interesting: in North Korea, you almost never see such words, but in South Korea, many write the names of girls and boys using Chinese characters. But still, there are very few hieroglyphs in the language. Their total number does not exceed 5000 pieces. In the last century, the popularity of purely Korean names has increased several times. Often in historical archives on the family tree, they try to write names in both Korean and Chinese characters.

Almost all Korean names have two syllables. But there are also options with three syllables or with one. In Korea, at the subconscious level, it is customary to write the last name first, and only then the first name. And this is done even in official documents. And even when there is translation into other languages, such as English, Italian or French, the word order is still preserved. Also, Koreans consider it a flagrant violation of etiquette to address someone by name. This is only allowed with friends and family.

Popular names for girls

Parents in Korea are very responsible in choosing a name. This takes into account many factors: date of birth, time of birth, zodiac sign and year. In the East, it is customary to pay great attention to the name. Parents believe that the future fate of the child depends on the name. Korean names for girls use a series of characters. Also, for female Korean names, national words or parts of them are often used. So, for example, Haneul - translated as the sky, and Isyl - purity. Korean female names and their meaning can be very diverse.

Korean names and their meaning:

There are a huge number of both male and female Korean names. And each of them is special, has its own interpretation and meaning. It is very difficult to compile a complete list of Korean names, one can only give examples. For example, the name Mi means beauty and femininity, Hwa translates as a flower, and Jeon means sincerity and honesty.

Korean girl names and their meanings are usually very beautiful. Koreans love to choose beautiful and cute meanings for names.

List of beautiful Korean names in alphabetical order:

Korean names are often associated with nature, history, mythology. They are very beautiful, and their beauty takes on special features for those who know their meanings.

Attention, only TODAY!

Namesakes and namesakes

In all countries, it is much more common to meet a person with the same name than with the same surname. In Korea, the opposite is true. There are not even two hundred and ninety surnames in the whole country. And the most common are three in general: Kim, Lee and Pak. So meeting a namesake in Korea is not an oddity, but a pattern. However, this person will not necessarily be your relative. Twenty million people in the southern part of the country alone have five common surnames. But to meet a namesake among these people is quite difficult. Korean names are very numerous. And very often they do not know sexual differentiation. That is, the same name can be worn by both a man and a woman. But a person's own, unique designation is written in one or two hieroglyphs. Tollimcha is added to them - a syllable common to the entire generation of this family. Therefore, the names of brothers, sisters and even cousins sound very similar.

Writing

How do Koreans come up with names?

The son in the traditions of this people has always been the successor of the family and the further guardian of his parents. Therefore, when naming him, not only the beautiful sound of his name was taken into account, but also the meaning of the latter. Parents tried to "code" their son, to give him the qualities that they wanted to see in him. Vien means the Finisher (every business). The name Dinh is no less popular. It means "top". It is implied that Dinh will always reach the zenith of all his endeavors. Similar name to Jin Ho, which means "leader". In the families of military boys, they often call Yong Kuan - "Brave Soldier". The name Hye is very popular - honoring parents. Just as girls are called flowers, boys are named after animals. Popular name Ho - tiger. We repeat once again: Koreans combine these monosyllabic words with others. This is how new and unusual names are obtained.

Bao - protection
Beach - jade
Binh - peace

Vienna - completion
Van - cloud
Vinh - bay

Dinh - peak
Duk - desire
jung - love
Jin-Ho - leader, golden hero
Jung - chaste, love
Dung - brave
Duong - courageous

Yong - brave
Yung - eternal, prosperous

Kuan - soldier
Kim is golden
Kui - precious
Kui - precious
Kuang - clear, pure
Kuen - bird

Lien - lotus
Lin - spring
Lan - peaceful

Monkut - crown
Mei is a flower
Ming - bright

Nung - velvet
Nguyen - start
Ngai - grass
Nung - velvet
Ngoc is a gem
Nguet - the moon

Pakpao - paper kite
Puong - phoenix

Sunan is a good word

Tien - spirit
Trey - oyster
Tu is a star
Tuan - bright
Tuen - beam
Tuet - white snow
Thai - friendly
Than - bright, clear
Thi - a poem
Thu - autumn
Thuan - tamed

Hanyul - heavenly
Hyun - wise
Hung - brave
Hoa - flower
Huong - pink
Huang - spring
Hong - rose
Huang - spring

Bao - protection
Beach - jade
Binh - peace

Vienna - completion
Van - cloud
Vinh - Bay

Dinh - peak
Duk - desire
jung - love
Jin-ho - leader, golden hero
Jung - chaste, love
Dung - brave
Duong - courageous

Yong - brave
Yung - eternal, prosperous

Kuan - soldier
Kim - golden
Kui - precious
Kui - precious
Kuang - clear, pure
Kuen - bird

Lien - lotus
Lin - spring
Lan - peaceful

Monkut - crown
May - flower
Ming - bright

Nung - velvet
Nguyen - start
Ngai - grass
Nung - velvet
Ngoc - gem
Nguet - the moon

Pakpao - kite
Puong - phoenix

Sunan is a good word

Tien - spirit
Trey - oyster
Tu - star
Tuan - bright
Tuen - beam
Tuet - white snow
Thai - friendly
Than - bright, clear
Thi - a poem
Thu - autumn
Thuan - tamed

Hanyul - heavenly
Hyun - wise
Hung - brave
Hoa - flower
Huong - pink
Huang - spring
Hong - rose
Huang - spring

Representatives of this nationality can find such unusual names for boys:

Bao Binh (protector, peacemaker),
Jin Ho (leader, heroic personality),
Duong (noble and courageous),
Dung Quan (brave warrior),
Yung (always prosperous),
Kim (gold)
Lan (peaceful),
Meng Ho (brave tiger),
Ngoc (jewel)
Thang (bright, radiant, clear),
Chong Il (true sun).

Rare male names of Korean origin

Among Koreans, names written in one word are less common than two-syllable ones. Often they are formed from two words, somewhat modified for ease of pronunciation.

Among these adapted names are the following:

Amen,
Bojing,
Bokin,
wenyan,
Gengis,
Guren,
Deming,
Janji,
Zian,
Zengzhong,
Yongnian,
yongliang,
kiang,
longway,
Mingli,
Tengfei,
Changming,
Chengley,
chuanli,
shanyuan,
Yusheng,
Yaoting.

For the names of sons choose:

Bao (defender)
Beach (jade),
Van (clouds),
Vienna (completion)
Jung (love)
Jin (leader)
Dinh (top),
Duong (masculinity),
Yong (fearlessness)
Yung (well-being)
Kim (gold)
Kuang (purity),
Lan (peace),
Monkut (crown, crown),
Ming (shine, brightness),
Nguyen (source, beginning),
Ngok (jewel)
Sec (rock),
Tien (spirituality)
Tu (star),
Tuan (radiant),
Tuen (rays of the sun),
Thai (friendly)
Hanyul (heaven)
Hyun (insight, wisdom),
Hung (courage)
Shin (loyalty and devotion)
Yuong (courage).

On a note. Koreans do not have a clear division of names into male and female, only the meanings of hieroglyphs are important.

General information

The modern Korean anthroponymic system is the result of social transformations at the end of the 19th century. The so-called reforms of the year can be considered as a conditional starting point. cabo(1894), although the process itself dragged on for many years and was subject to significant interference from Japanese colonial policy. Traditionally, only nobles could have a surname (Korea was no different from other countries in this). The privilege of having a surname was abolished as early as 1909 under the Korean Empire, but the practice of universal surnames took root already under the Japanese colonial administration. However, the main activities of the Japanese authorities in this area, in particular, the well-known "Decree on changing names" (創氏改名 Jap. co:shi kaimei창씨개명, the decree was put into effect by the decision of the Daegu District Court (大邱, which became Taikyu in the English Wikipedia) fall in the late 30s and early 40s.

This highly politicized topic, fortunately, has nothing to do with the questions that interest us. However, it should be borne in mind that such a late institutionalization of the Korean anthroponymic system requires additional caution when considering genealogies dating back to Korean settlers in the Russian Far East in the second half of the 19th century.

The official date of the beginning of the resettlement is considered to be 1864, when the Korean village of Tizinhe was founded (later the Vinogradnoye state farm, in 1938 it was merged with the village of Gvozdevo, Khasansky district of Primorsky Krai). F. V. Solovyov in the "Dictionary of Chinese toponyms in the territory of the Soviet Far East" interprets this name as of unclear origin. In Chinese sources, it is written in hieroglyphs 雞心河 (Chinese. jixin-he계심하), that is, "Chicken Heart River" (Soloviev translates as "Chicken River"). Actually, the Chinese 雞心 ( jixin) has the meaning "Jujuba" or "Jujuba" (棗 Chinese. zao조, however, in Korean this bush is called 대추 taechu, and the hieroglyphic name is not used). This is a variety of zisiphus (lat. Ziziphus jujuba), colloquially called "Chinese date". This is a shrub of the buckthorn family with rather large red-brown berries (drupe), shaped like a chicken heart. So the river, rather, Date. Its Russian name is Grape, however, probably not as a result of confusion, but in the sense of "vine berry".

We also will not touch on another sensitive topic - the issue of large-scale falsification of pedigrees, in particular, the so-called practice of "correcting ancestors" (換父易祖 환부역조), when one's own "bad" ancestor was attached to a "good" genus. They were usually attached to former patrons and by agreement, as a rule, to lines where there were no direct male descendants. According to some reports, up to 90% of all genealogies are falsified to one degree or another, although this figure seems to be, after all, overestimated.

At the same time, all of South Korea almost without exception turned into descendants of ancient noble families (see, for example, A. N. Lankov “A Nation of Nobles?”). I note, however, that this is by no means a one-time phenomenon associated with social upheavals after the liberation of the country in 1945, but it seems to be a good old tradition. Family Salary (賜姓 사성) and ponov(賜貫 사관) took place as early as Silla, and continued briskly under Goryeo. So, for example, part of the Kims from Gyeongju (慶州金氏 경주 김씨) became the Kwons from Andong (安東權氏 안동권씨).

The correction of genealogies became even larger since the beginning of the 15th century after the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty. It is to this period that the first genealogical books that have come down to us belong. The most ancient are the 1423 genealogies of the Yu family of Munhwa (文化柳氏 문화유씨) and the 1476 genealogy of the same Kwons of Andong, in both cases the genealogical lines date back to the beginning of the 10th century. There is also information about the genealogy of the Oh family from Hezhu (海州吳氏 해주오씨) as far back as 1401, dating back to the end of the 10th century, however, there are some questions about this source.

When it comes to genealogical books, they usually mean the so-called chokpo(族譜족보). In general, there are about a dozen varieties of genealogical books, collectively called "genealogical records" 譜牒 (보첩). Including, "Generation records" (世譜 세보, sometimes also 世誌 세지), "Generation records" (派譜 파보, sometimes also 支譜 지보), "Family records" 家譜 (가보 or 家牒 가첩, here 家 namely “family”, and not “yard”, so the translation of “household records” is incorrect) and others. Most of the names include the character 譜 (보), meaning "systematized records", including an ordered "family tree".

Page of the "Generational Records" (世譜) of the Yu family of Munhwa, 1565 copy from the collection of the Academy of Korean Studies (한국학 중앙연구원)

In any case, starting from the early Joseon period, we already see most of the main elements and connections of the system. Returning to the issue of falsifications, we can say that they are, in any case, systemic and, thus, form an integral and self-valuable picture.

A modern Korean full name consists of a character (usually one) for the last name and characters (usually two) for the given name. The situation here is the opposite of that which takes place in the West or in Russia, where a theoretically unlimited number of surnames is combined with a limited, although rather quickly replenished, repertoire of names. In Korea, on the contrary, a limited repertoire of surnames is combined with a given name, which, generally speaking, can be a combination of any characters. The Korean surname always comes before the given name. Now, however, sometimes there is a record in Latin in the English manner: first name, then surname (sometimes separated by commas).

The modern repertoire includes 284 surnames (according to South Korean statistics for 2000). A complete list of about 350 surnames also includes obsolete surnames and variants of hieroglyphic spelling. However, they are distributed very unevenly. The graph below shows that 50% of the country's population has one of the four "big" surnames, and the 40 most common surnames already cover 90% of the population.

For comparison, in the United States, according to the results of the 1990 census, 18839 surnames were registered, 50% of the country's population have 140 surnames, and 90% have about 700 surnames.

There are also a small number of two-syllable surnames (複姓 복성), whose carriers together make up less than 0.15% of the population (we are talking about South Korea). Most disyllabic surnames are historically Chinese, but are considered proper Korean: Namgun (南宮 남궁), Hwangbo (皇甫 황보), Seonwoo (鮮于 선우), Dokgo (獨孤 독고), Jegal (諸葛 제갈), Dongban (東方 동 방), Sagon (司空 사공), Seomun (西門 서문), Ogeum (魚金 어금), and Seobong (小峰 소봉). In addition, there are several obsolete two-syllable surnames, as well as the so-called naturalized surnames (歸化城 귀화 성) belonging to post-war immigrants from Japan.

When talking about Korean surnames, there are a few important points to keep in mind. Firstly, some surnames have variants of hieroglyphic spelling. Two cases must be distinguished here. For example, the surname Ko (고) is now written with the character 高. But there is also a variant (previously more common) 髙 - these are variations of the same hieroglyph. Moreover, not all dictionary varieties are actually used in surnames. In another case, the surname Pyeong (편) is now written with the character 扁 (넓적할 편 "flat"). However, there is a variant 偏 (치우칠 편 "oblique"). This is exactly a different hieroglyph, however, the same surname. In fact, just with this surname, everything is a little more complicated - there was a splitting of the gender with the replacement of the hieroglyph by a homophone. But officially now it is considered one surname, and the spelling 偏 is not normative.

Secondly, writing in Hangul, as a rule, corresponds to several hieroglyphic variants. And they are all different names. Simply put, the surname is hieroglyphic, not Hangul. As an example, take the second most common surname Lee (이). The surname is usually considered to be 李 (오얏 나무 이 "plum", by the way, meaning not so much a fruit as a [blooming] tree). But apart from "plum" there is also Li 異 (다를 이 "wonderful"), Li 伊 (저 이 "that"), and Li 離 (떠날 이 "leave"). However, these are all very rare names.

The surname Lee generally deserves a separate story. First of all, "Li" is a normative Russian spelling, which is an exception in the system of practical Korean transcription by L. R. Kontsevich (for some reason, I do not always strictly adhere to its rules). Etymologically, there is an initial ‑ㄹ – l/-r. Therefore, earlier (and still in the DPRK) it is written 리 ri. In different dialects, this sound gives different reflexes, resulting in variants Yi, Li, Ri and Ni (spelling 니 neither is obsolete). In addition, taking into account the widespread suffix in the surnames Koryo-saram -guy, we also have options Igay, Ligay, Rigay and Nigay. Technically, these eight variants are all doublets of the same (Hangul) surname.

A few words about the suffix itself -guy. It combines with all surnames that end in a vowel, although some variants are extremely rare. The origin of this suffix is much unclear. Among the Koryo-saram themselves, the opinion is very popular that this is a consequence of errors during the census during the deportation of Koreans to Central Asia. However, this is just a common misconception that has no basis. Without delving too deeply into the topic, I note that back in 1865, P. A. Gelmersen, at that time the captain of the General Staff under the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia, who needed an interpreter, took up a Korean boy about 15 years old, Edzhimuni ( Evgenia) Kogaya. Later, Gelmersen took him with him to St. Petersburg, where he assigned him to study. Apparently, Yevgeny Kogay is the first Korean who visited the capital of the Russian Empire, and certainly the first to receive an official education.

In the same (1865) year, several people from the same village of Tizinhe "not half-heartedly, but to their hearts" converted to Orthodoxy. The names according to the holy calendar Peter, Anton, Pavel were received by the Koreans Ungudi, Kegyi, Holoni, as well as their wives, who became, respectively, Mary, Theodosia and Xenia. Here, of course, we are interested in someone named (name?) Kegy.

To begin with, I will note one important point. The first Korean settlers were not just northerners, but came from an area called Yukjin (六鎭 육진 or 六邑 육읍). This is a fortress belt in the very north of North Hamgyong province, which was founded by King Sejong the Great in 1434 on the southern bank of the Tumangan River to protect against the Jurchens (the construction itself lasted more than 100 years): Jeongseon (鍾城 종성), Onsong (穩城 온성 ), Hwaryeong (會寧 회령), Gyeongwon (慶源 경원), Gyeongheung (慶興 경흥), and Puryeong (富寧 부령). There is a specific Yukchin dialect (육진 방언) in this area, which exhibits a number of very archaic features. In particular, only the old nominative in 이 is used. And(nominative in 가 ha generally a rather late phenomenon). So this suffix could not be a frozen nominative. Linguistically, it is more accurate to assume that the Sino-Korean morpheme 家 (가 ka/ha"home, family"), merged with the nominative in 이 And: Li+ga+i= "[so-and-so] from the house/family of Lee". But, firstly, Koreans do not add the word 家 to the surname. One can, of course, assume that it was not the surname as such that was meant (it might not have been), but an indication of the patron's house, but it is also strange. Secondly, it is necessary to somehow explain why this suffix appears only in surnames ending in a vowel.

Perhaps a graphical decomposition of the diphthong took place here ke, turned into ka+And(historically, just the opposite - modern diphthongs are the result of contraction), so it might be worth trying to look for an etymology ge.

A remarkable example of such a decomposition is the surname 崔, modern South Korean Choi, which is a graphic cho+And, universally giving the northern dialect Choi.

The balanced pronunciation of diphthongs is also a feature of the Yukchi dialect (however, not only it). I will not claim that it is this dialect that underlies the Koryo-saram (Koryo-mal) language, but the fact that it had a great influence on it, and that it was the first Korean settlers who spoke it, is undeniable. I also note that it is wrong to identify Koryo-mal with the Korean dialects of northeastern China - they have their own specifics, although, of course, they have features common to all northern Korean dialects.

Concluding the conversation about the suffix -guy, let's consider a curious case with the name and surname of the famous Russian (Soviet) Korean, later a prominent party and statesman of the DPRK, Alexei Ivanovich Khegai. He was born in 1908 in Khabarovsk. As a rule, Russian Koreans had two names - Orthodox Russian and traditional Korean. Anatoly Ivanovich, apparently, did not have a Korean name at all. His Korean name Ho Ga Yi (許哥而 허가이) became widely known after he began working in North Korea in 1945. There is a version that the name for him came up with an outstanding Korean linguist, and part-time leader of the "Yan'an group" in the leadership of the WPK Kim Du Bon. Most likely, it is not. There are documents from which it follows that Alexei Ivanovich wrote himself in Korean earlier (as early as the 1930s) (for more details, see A. N. Lankov “Ho Ga Yi: Essay on life and work”). In general, here we are dealing with a rather rare case of the “reverse transformation” of an already Russified surname into a Korean name (and, apparently, deliberately specific).

Returning to surnames, I also note that Russian transcription can often introduce significant ambiguity. For example, Kang is generally considered to be a surname 姜, one of the ten most common. However, the Russian spelling corresponds to two Hangul spellings: 간 and 강 (with back language n). In practical transcription, backlingual n transmitted as n, but in life this option does not occur (Kang is very rare). As a result, for 간 we have the character 簡 (대쪽간 "bamboo board") and four variants for 강: 姜 (성 강, originally an anthropo- and toponymic character, later meaning "ginger"), 康 (편안 할 강 "welfare" ), 强 (힘쓸강 "strong", with the common variant 彊), and 江 (강강 "river").

Simplifying somewhat, the Korean system pongwan(本貫본관) or simply Mon(本본) is a system of assigning generations of the male line (父系 부계) to a specific geographic location. In the pronunciation of Koryo-saram, this word often sounds like bon or poi / sing with the loss of the final n(another feature of the Yukchi dialect) and the same old nominative in And.

relatives of one pona form a "family" or "clan" ssi氏 (씨). It is often said that Mon- this is the homeland (故鄕 고향 kohyan, Chinese version of the second character 鄉) of the founder of the clan (始祖 시조).

Let's talk about home first. There is a nuance associated with translation. In Russian, "homeland" is, first of all, the place where a person was born. Terminologically, the place of birth is called in Korean 出生地 (출생지). A kohyan- this is exactly the place where the family came from. In Korean, the question of the motherland kohyan, in fact, implies precisely the ancestral homeland, although now they can also name the place of birth in response. There is also a highly specialized term 貫鄕 (관향), meaning "place [of origin of a genealogical] lineage". Moreover, 鄕 (향) is not a place in general, but a very specific registered settlement (otherwise it cannot be attributed).

The emergence of the clan is due to the fact that its future founder is separated and, as a rule, moves to a new place. The reverse is optional, the genus can spread without division (分貫 분관 or 分籍 분적). In addition, some ponov there is a so-called intermediate founder (中始祖 중시조). This is a man who revived the family after the decline. Sometimes this word is translated as "an intermediate ancestor who left the place of the original residence of the clan." However, the revival of the clan is not necessarily associated with resettlement, and even in this case, not always with the place of original residence.

As for the ancestors and founders, it seems that the ancestral lines were originally tied precisely to the ancestors, such as the well-known system of “knees”. Later, already within the framework, and then under the influence of Chinese administrative practice, they began to ascribe locally. A fairly close analogy is the situation with Joseph, Mary's husband. As you know, he was from the tribe of David, but assigned to Bethlehem - in a somewhat free interpretation, David is the founder, and Bethlehem ponom.

Large genera often have several genealogical lines (系계), which can be further divided into branches (宗派종파 or simply 派파). One of the branches is usually called local (鄕派 향파), that is, remaining in the ancestral place 鄕 (향). Other branches are usually named after the new location. The capital branch (京派경파) is especially common, further showing the social dynamics. As an example, let's take the most numerous clan - the Kim family from Gimhae (金海金氏 김해김씨), which make up almost 9% of the country's population (more than 4 million people as of 2000) This Mon traces himself to Kim Suro (金首露 김수로, 42?-199? AD), the legendary (according to the estimated years of his life for sure) founder of the ancient Korean kingdom of Geumgwang Kaya. This state formation is also known as Karak (駕洛 가락), after the motto of the government, so they are sometimes called Karak Kims (駕洛金氏 가락김씨). The genus itself is divided into 4 lines, forming 25 branches, including one Japanese. These are the descendants of the Japanese general Sayaka (沙也可), who also traced his origins to Kim Suro. During the Imjin War (1592), he defected to the Korean side and is known by the rather "speaking" Korean name Kim Chung-song (金忠善김충선 "Especially Loyal"). However, from the Korean point of view, there is no irony here - the clan was simply stuck in Japan for one and a half thousand years, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, Sayaka restored historical justice.

Initially Mon united blood relatives, but apparently quite early began to add third-party families on the basis of clientele, especially during periods of large-scale political and social transformations. All this has turned pongwan more into the social system, although its kinship character is universally emphasized. You can draw various parallels, for example, with the Chechen teips, also initially consanguineous, but later a social structure, within which there is a related structure var.

Each surname has one or more ponov. In the Joseon era, there were about 4400 surnames for 250 surnames. ponov. According to the censuses of the 1930s, for the same 250 surnames, there were already only 3,300 ponov. The official figure for South Korea for 2010 is 4175 ponov for 284 surnames. However, many pony are inactive, historical, or doublets, so the real figure is noticeably smaller. The fact is that the names of places have changed several times, and in pony the old name is usually retained, and not necessarily the one that was official at the time of the resettlement. The histogram below shows that pony distributed very unevenly (although the distribution itself is normal, positively skewed).

Most ponov(348) falls on the surname Kim. Note that pony are not unique, that is, the same Mon(in the sense of the place of registration) may have several genera. As an example, here is a table (not quite complete and without taking into account variations) ponov, which are assigned to the former Silla capital of Gyeongju (慶州 경주).

Of particular interest here are the Volsonsky and Kerimsky pony. Wolseong Moon Castle (月城 월성) is an ancient palace of the Silla rulers, currently a Gyeongju Historical and Archaeological Area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Kerim (鷄林 계림) literally means "Cock Forest" (rather, just a grove), which was located not far from the palace to the west (according to a modern map and topographic references, about 700 meters). And yes, this is the same chicken (雞계, 鷄 spelling, more common in Korea) that we have already met in the name Chizinhae, although it is hardly worth drawing far-reaching conclusions from this. However, the story of the forest itself is so curious that perhaps it deserves a separate story.

In the annals of Samguk Sagi, this forest appears as the "Original Forest" (始林 시림 Sirim). Sometimes they translate “Virgin (primordial) forest”, but here 始 is exactly “beginning, place of origin” (the same 始, which in the founding ancestor 始祖 시조 sijo), and now it becomes clear why.

In the 9th year of his reign (AD 65), the ruler of Silla Tharhae by the name of Sok (昔 석 - here are the Wolson Soks!) heard at night that a rooster (鷄 계) was singing in the Sirim forest. True, according to another chronicle, "Samguk Yusa", this happened in the 3rd year of kyongsin (庚申 경신) under the motto of the reign "Eternal Peace" (永平 in Chinese). yongping) of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty, that is, in the year 60 AD. e. (hence some confusion in dates, including with Tharkhe himself).

The next morning the ruler sent Prince Hogon to find out what was the matter. However, at Samguk Yusa, Hogon was just walking around at night in the vicinity of Wolseong. This is actually a very interesting character. Hogon (瓠公 호공) literally means "Prince Gourd". It is believed that he was called that because he sailed to Korea from Japan, tying a gourd to his belt. It's all about the pumpkin! However, the swim through the Tsushima Strait, the minimum width of which is 47 kilometers, is also impressive.

In Korean gourd (lat. Lagenaria siceraria, this is not at all like an ordinary pumpkin Cucurbita) is usually called 朴 (박 pack). The full Chinese version of this character is 樸 (the spelling 朴 is now considered simplified in China) and simply means "raw wood", although, of course, botanically lagenaria is a liana (common gourd is a grass). But most importantly, this is the third most common Korean surname Park.

The character 朴 itself consists of two elements: 木 "tree" (generally a hard plant) and 卜 "guess". Guessing means clarifying a dark, incomprehensible situation. So it is quite possible that this surname is, in fact, native Korean, associated with the root palk밝 (밝다 “bright, clear” and also “knowledgeable”, the causative 밝히다 means, among other things, “enlighten, inform”). Let me also remind you that the legendary founder of Silla was named Park Hyukkose (朴赫居世 박혁거세). Another spelling of his name (namely, a variant spelling, not another name) is Bulgune (弗矩內 불구내). According to the accepted interpretation, the character 赫 (붉을 혁 hake) "bright red" is the Korean root 붉 ( pulque) "red", character 居 (거 to) plays a purely phonetic role, the character 世 (세 se) "peace" is the Korean word 누리 ( nuri) "peace, light", which was contracted into 뉘 ( Well). All together it turns out Pulgune, that is, "illuminating or enlightening the world." Well, the gourd itself is a very important subject in divinatory (shamanic) practices in Korea, southern Japan and northeastern China.

So, Prince Pumpkin (-gourd) found that a golden chest was hanging on the branches of a tree, and a white rooster was sitting under the tree. When the chest was opened (according to one version, the chest was delivered to the palace, according to another, the ruler himself arrived at the place), they found a boy of extraordinary beauty in it. About the chest. The original character is 樻 (함궤), which means "big chest", now generally "cabinet" (in Chinese, it is usually written 櫃 or 匱 with the same reading, there is also the meaning "large basket for carrying earth"). The Korean interpretation of 함 is actually another character 函 (함 함), which simply means "box" or "box". But it is this word that is commonly used in modern paraphrases (sometimes also 상자). Hence, and in many translations, the boy sits in what looks like a mailbox.

Everyone, of course, was very happy and remembered about Hyokkose, who was also found in the forest, moreover, near the Chicken (again!) Stream (鷄井 계정 kejong). True, he did not sit in a chest, but in an egg, but this is not important. In general, the boy was named Kim Alji (金閼智 김알지) and his descendants subsequently became the rulers of Silla. And the forest has since become known as Petushin. However, “Samguk Yusa” notes that he is also called Pigeon (鳩林 구림, actually, it’s not quite a “dove”, but a “turtle dove”, however, it’s more likely that a turtle dove, and not a rooster, will scream at night). There is also a version that either a rooster or some other vociferous bird was the totem of some Korean tribes (I'm not saying that the Koreans had a totem system at all!) But the "original" (시림 Sirim) may have been sarim(this is a valid transition), where sa is an old Korean word for bird. Possibly modern 새 ( ce) "bird" is the old 사 ( sa) plus frozen old nominative 이 ( And): sa+And=ce. Middle Korean say also correlated with old Japanese sanKî"heron". However, there is not a very good match (although there is a Korean dialect form with n) and in general the transition from the generic name to the specific name seems doubtful (for more details, see, for example, Alexander Vovin. "Koreo-Japonica: A Re-evaluation of a Common Genetic Origin"). In general, this version of the name of the forest seems to me, if not erroneous, then, in any case, insufficiently substantiated, and most importantly, redundant.

As for the surname Kim, supposedly the boy got it because the chest was golden (金금 kym). Most likely, this is also a native Korean surname associated with the old word gym, meaning something like a tribal leader. In the modern language, the word 임금 ( imgym, in old spelling with etymological initial n and the so-called "lower A) "ruler". It consists of the word 님 ( him), which now uses the honorific suffix (선생님, 형님, etc.) as a polite address, and the same 금 ( gym). Also, the legendary founder of Ancient Joseon, Tangun, held the title of wangom (王儉 왕검). This word is written in two characters: Chinese 王 (왕 van) "ruler", later the title of Korean kings, and 儉 (검 gom) "modest" (with a weak "side" O). But, according to the general opinion, we are not talking about a “modest ruler” (and it’s not very good in terms of grammar), but about a phonetic record of a Korean word in Chinese hieroglyph, which gives “ruler- gom».

Finishing the story pony, I will mention that, most ponov are considered Korean. That is, technically, at one stage or another, they were attributed to the original Korean lines, including people from ancient kingdoms on the territory of the Korean Peninsula. However, there are also about 200 Chinese, a dozen Japanese, 2-3 Mongolian and Jurchen, 4-5 Uighur and a few Vietnamese and Taiwanese. Even more curious is the presence of "Western" ponov. There are Dutch. One of them is the Pak family from Wonsan (元山朴氏 원산박씨), descendants of the Dutch navigator Jan Janse de Weltevree, who lived in Korea in 1653–1666. and bore the Korean name Pak Yong (朴淵 박연). There is an American one - the Ha Il family from Yongdo (影島河氏 영도하씨), whose founder Robert Holley, an American lawyer, preacher and TV presenter, naturalized in 1997, the Korean name is Ha Il (河一 하일). There are also two German ones, of which the "German" Li (獨逸李氏 독일 이씨) is especially interesting - seems to be the only one Mon tied to the whole country. Its founder is a German actor and businessman of Korean origin Bernhard Quandt, born in 1954 in Bad Kreuznach (Rhineland-Palatinate), naturalized in 1986, Korean name Lee Han Woo (李韓佑 이한우), better known as pseudonym Lee Chham (李參 이참, which in English he writes Lee Charm).

Finally, there are two Russian pona. The founder of the Lee family from Seongnam (城南李氏 성남이씨) is football player Denis Vladimirovich Laktionov, born on September 4, 1977 in the village of Krasnozerskoye, Novosibirsk Region. In the mid-1990s, he played for the Sakhalin club and the national youth team. He also played two friendly matches for the Russian national team, in 2002 he was included in the preliminary squad for the World Cup in Korea. Since the late 90s, he played in Korean clubs, twice became the league's top scorer and three times a member of the symbolic team of the South Korean championship. Later he switched to coaching. In 2003, he received Korean citizenship and received the name Lee Song Nam (李城南 이성남). According to his own testimony, he could choose any surname, but he settled on Lee, like Bruce Lee. And the name is in honor of the city of Seongnam (城南 성남, Gyeonggi Province), for whose club he played.

The founder of the Sin family from Kuri (九里申氏 구리신씨) is also a football player, goalkeeper Valery Konstantinovich Sarychev, born on January 12, 1960 in Dushanbe. Played for CSKA Moscow and Torpedo Moscow. In 1986 he won the USSR Cup, and in 1991 he was recognized as the best goalkeeper in the country. From the early 1990s, he played for Korean clubs, naturalized in 1999. He became a four-time champion of Korea, won the Asian Champions Cup, the Asian Super Cup and the Asian and African Intercontinental Cup, founded the first Korean school of goalkeepers, coaches the country's youth team. He has a very interesting Korean name, Shin Eui Seong (申宜孫 신의손). On the one hand, these are quite ordinary Korean given names and surnames. On the other hand, this is the Korean phrase 신의 손, which means "the hand of God."

The name consists of two, less often one hieroglyph. We're talking about the legal name (官名 관명 or 冠名 관명, actually, technically they are somewhat different things, but since both words are pronounced the same kwangmyeong, they are sometimes confused even in specialized literature) or the real name (實名 실명 or 本名 본명) and the adult name (字 자). One thing to note about this term is that it is often mistranslated as "respectful name" and that, technically, Chinese and Korean 字 are terminologically different.

Hieroglyphs, as well as in China and Japan, could be anything. Sometimes there are very rare ones, used only in anthroponyms, and unique ones. After the release in South Korea (I will not touch on the situation in the DPRK), the process of regulating the hieroglyphs used in anthroponyms began.

First, if possible, differences are eliminated. However, some options are allowed. For example, the key 礻 can be written as 示. Secondly, reading is unified. For example, the character 復 has two dictionary readings: 부 pu and 복 pok. Names are currently read-only부 pu. At the same time, in most Chinese compound words, it is read exactly as 복 pok.

Finally, the list of valid hieroglyphs itself is limited. The use of characters not from the list is generally allowed, but in official documents they must be written in Hangul. In registration and identification documents, hieroglyphic and Korean spellings are indicated separately. Among others, there were purely technical considerations for reproducing rare hieroglyphs and spellings. The rapid development of information technology has virtually eliminated this problem, but the regulation remained.

Hieroglyphic lists are regularly reviewed, corrected and replenished. The current version is based on the "List of Nominal Characters" (人名用漢子表 인명용 한자표) published by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Korea in 1991, which included 2854 characters and 61 variants. It is also allowed to use all characters from the school hieroglyphic minimum. Now the official list already includes 5761 hieroglyphs. The figures given vary somewhat depending on the accounting for spelling options. In addition, some hieroglyphs from the original lists have been refined or changed. However, they have not been taken out of use, and corrections to documents, as a rule, are not made. Therefore, some of the hieroglyphs are in a "semi-legal" position.

There are some pretty tricky ones. For example, the character 喆 (철 cheol) "wise". Generally speaking, this is a variant spelling of the character 哲, but in Korea they are considered two different characters that have the same reading. In addition, the character 哲 also has a (rare) variant 悊. At the same time, all three are included in the official list: 哲 is included in the school minimum, 喆 was in the original list of nominal characters in 1991, and 悊 was added in 2007.

According to reports, it is planned to expand the list to more than 8 thousand characters. By the way, this is much more than, for example, a similar Japanese list, which includes only about 3 thousand characters, including 2136 ordinary kanji (常用漢字 jap. jo:yo: kanji), 632 nominal kanji (人名用漢字 Jap. jinmeiyo: kanji) and about 240 variants and traditional spellings.

And in conclusion, a few words about the rather curious topic of native Korean names. Two cases must be distinguished here. First, the use of hieroglyphs to write names that are native Korean words. However, after the establishment of Goryeo, such (official) names are very rare. But sometimes there are Korean components, for which Korean characters themselves are often used (韓子 한자, unlike Chinese characters 漢字 한자 - both words are read the same hanchcha).

As an example, consider the name of one of the three famous robbers (along with the more publicized Hong Gil Dong, which we will get to) of the Joseon era, whose name was Lim Kkok Jeong (林巪正 임꺽정). Most likely, Gkokjeon is not a name at all. According to the official version, he was the son of a butcher, and in the 16th century, he was not supposed to have a name. With a butcher (白丁 백정 baekchon) is also not so simple. In Chinese, this word meant a commoner who was not in public service. In the Goryeo era, the term referred to (landless?) tenants and farm laborers. Later, it is replaced by the word "commoner" (百姓 백성), which eventually democratically turned into "the people" in general. And only towards the end of Joseon, 白丁 finally becomes a butcher, perhaps under the influence of the original Korean butcher 백장 ( baekchan). Most likely, in the Joseon era, this word meant not a specific profession, but a certain social class of "impure", something like Japanese burakumin.

The name itself contains a rare Korean (not Chinese!) hieroglyph 巪 (꺽 kkok, however, he also has a Chinese reading ju). It is formed by signing under the character 巨 (거 to) "huge" hook, which functions like the phonetic Korean ㄱ To.

There is no doubt that the word gokjeon(걱정) "anxiety, worry". This is a native Korean word that does not have a hieroglyphic spelling, and it is pronounced with a strong initial consonant of the second syllable, although it is read with a strong initial first in the name. The dictionary does not note this, and in general hieroglyphic readings with a strong initial consonant are very rare. There may have originally been some name Lim Ko-jeong (林巨正 림거정) - so in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. And there is also a variant 林巨叱正 (림거질정). This does not mean, however, that Gojiljeong should be read. Character 叱 (질 chill) plays the role of a universal "subscription" here (this is especially evident when the text is placed vertically). Thus, it turns out 임껏정 ( Lim Gkokchon). In general, this is the standard way to convey the Korean final consonant cluster ( patchchima) in hieroglyphic writing, regardless of the quality of the consonant, for example, 㖚 (붓) "brush", 唟 (것) "thing".

Secondly, modern proper Korean names that do not have a hieroglyphic spelling. The fashion for them was quite common in South Korea in the 1980s. There are about one and a half hundred such names, and female and gender-specific ones predominate. Most are ordinary words. For example, Mayum (마음 "soul", feminine, sometimes masculine), Bora (보라 "purple" is one of the most popular female names), Podyl (버들 "willow", masculine). Often there are infinitives on ㅁ m, etymological "lower A» is usually transmitted ㅡ s. For example, Ahreum (아름 "beauty", feminine, actually, is the modern word 아름, which means "armful, pack"). Along with this form, there is also a predominantly masculine Aram (아람). Concretions such as Seron (새론 "new girl", female) and non-etymological spellings such as Turi (두리 "second, second", male and female) are common. A few more interesting examples: Paral (바랄, "sea", masculine, an old form with the etymological "lower A”) along with the modern gender-wide form Pada (바다). Yeseul (예슬feminine, formed according to the Chinese binomial model by adding the initial syllables of the Korean words 예쁘다 eppyda"beautiful" and 슬기롭다 sylgiropta"smart"), Kyul (결 "winter", feminine, contracted form from 겨울 kyoul, possibly with a play on the English girl). Since the mid 90s. this fashion seems to have declined quite quickly, although the names from the original Korean repertoire remain very popular as pseudonyms, especially among representatives of the Korean show business.

Natural philosophy

Chinese natural philosophy in Korean Neo-Confucian interpretation has had a huge impact on almost every aspect of Korean life. In particular, it sets the main paradigm of anthroponymic constructions. Therefore, we list the main concepts that we will need in the future.

The fundamental basis of everything is Yin (陰 음) and Yang (陽 양) - two principles: “female, dark” (Yin) and “male, light” (Yang), the struggle of which gives rise to the “Five (original) elements” (or elements listen)) (五行 오행 Chinese) wu-sin). The five elements alternate in an endless cycle, determining the course of all things. The order, generally speaking, is not important - the cycle can be started from any element, but usually the Tree (木 목) comes first, corresponding to the first cyclic sign of the Heavenly Branches. It is followed by Fire (火화), Earth (土토), Metal (金금), and Water (水수). There are two main types of relationship between the Five Elements: they generate (生생) and overcome (剋극) each other. In general, this whole metaphysics is called the "Rules of the Five Elements" (五行法 오행법).

How to choose female and male Korean names

In Korea, it is customary to choose a name according to a horoscope, as well as in accordance with various concepts of Eastern philosophy. In view of this, many parents seek help from professional fortunetellers working in specialized centers "Jakmyeongseo". These specialists carry out the necessary calculations and determine which female or male Korean name will be the most favorable for a newborn baby.

Popular Korean names include:

Vienna. Literally translated, this means "completion", and it is understood that such a child will bring all undertakings to a victorious end.
Dinh. This word is translated as "peak", and when a boy is given such a name, his parents "program" him to achieve heights in life.
Gin. This name is similar in meaning to the previous one and reflects the leadership qualities of the individual.
Yong. The word translates as "courage", and is often combined with "Kuan" (soldier). Most often, this is the name of boys born in families of warriors.
Heh. The name means "respectful", it is assumed that such a child will treat parents and others with respect.

In addition, among Asian peoples, boys are often given names containing the names of animals. For example, in Korea, the name Yuong Ho, meaning "brave tiger", is very common.

Namesakes and namesakes

How do Koreans come up with names?

Korean female names

Korean names for men

Watch the video: Korean names and surnames / Personal name and family (clan) name

Korea. Surnames and names

Perhaps one of the very first questions that any person dealing with Korea and Koreans faces concerns Korean names and surnames. Sometimes ignorance of some of the nuances can lead to misunderstandings and awkward situations, and we hope that this article will help shed light on the peculiarities of Korean names and, accordingly, avoid similar situations in the future.
Korean surnames (성) are overwhelmingly monosyllabic and, contrary to the Western tradition, are always written before the personal name.
Thus, a typical Korean name consists of three syllables: the first syllable is the family name, and the second and third are the given name. An example is the name of famous Korean actor Bae Yong-jun (배용준), where "Bae" is his family name and "Yong-jun" is his personal name. In English, his name is written as Yong Joon Bae, that is, the first name comes first, and then the surname (family name). Europeans and Americans, looking at this name, may think that "Joon" is the second name (middle name) of the actor. However, in Korea it is not customary to give a child two names, and the established tradition of writing two-syllable names in two separate words does not reflect the true structure of the name and can mislead people. Related article:
According to Korean government statistics, 9,925,949 people in Korea they have the surname 金, which is written as 김 in Hangul and is usually Russified as Kim.
Despite the fact that the population of South Korea is 48 million people, the surnames in Korea only 300.
According to government figures for 2000, 54% of the population has one of five surnames: Kim (김), Lee (이), Park (박), Choi (최), or Chung (정). Rounding out the top ten most common surnames are Kang (강), Cho (조), Yoon (윤), Cheng (장), and Lim (임). Some of the rarest surnames are possessed by only a handful of people. There are also about twelve double surnames, consisting of two syllables and two Chinese characters. The most common ones are Hwangbo (황보), Jaegal (제갈), Sakong (사공), Namgun (남궁), Seonwoo (선우) and others. These surnames can confuse foreigners visiting for the first time. Korea because, as a rule, they expect Koreans to have a first name with two syllables and a last name with one, which is actually not always the case.
For some surnames, there are many pronunciation options, since the romanization system may not always be applicable, because some sounds simply cannot be conveyed in Latin spelling.

Romanization and Russification of surnames "> Romanization and Russification of surnames:

김 (Kim, Gim) - Kim
이 (Lee, Yi, I) - Lee, Ni, I, Ligai, Nigai
박 (Park, Pak, Bak) - Pak
최 (Choi, Choe) - Choi, Choi, Choi
정 (Jung, Chung, Jeong) - Ten
강 (Gang, Kang) - Kang
조 (Cho, Jo) - Cho, Deo
윤 (Yoon, Yun)
장 (Jang, Chang) - Chang
임 (Lim, Im) - Im, Lim
한 (Han) - Han
신 (Shin, Sin) - Shin, Sin
서 (Suh, Seo) - She, Shegai
권 (Kwon, Gwon) - Kwon
손 (Son) - Dream
황 (Whang, Hwang) - Hwang
송 (Song) - Dream
안 (Ahn, An) - An
유 (Yoo, Yu) - Yu, Yugai
홍 (Hong) - Hong
선우 (Sunwoo, Seonwoo) - Seonwoo, Sangwoo
사공 (Sagong) - Sagon, Sakong

But remember that not all Kims are the same. Surnames are divided into regional clans (bons) depending on the territorial center of the clan or origin. Therefore, there are Kims from Gimhae, Kims from Gyeongju, Kims from Gwangsan, and Kims from Gimnyong. Similarly with the surname Lee and others. For a long time in the territory Korea there was a law prohibiting the marriage of people from the same clan, but at this time it is no longer in force.
All Korean surnames are written in Chinese characters, because despite the fact that in Korea historically had its own naming system, in the 5th century the Korean aristocracy adopted the Confucian naming system from neighboring China. Since then, Chinese surnames have spread throughout the nation and completely Koreanised.
Surnames in North and South Korea are the same, although there are some differences in pronunciation. Unlike European countries, a woman does not receive her husband's surname upon marriage, only children inherit the surname.

Bonds of Korean surnames

The number of Korean surnames is limited, according to various researchers, it ranges from 180 to 300.
The vast majority of Korean surnames developed in the era of the birth of three states: Baekje, Silla and Koguryo, i.e. over 2 thousand years ago. A comparative retrospective analysis of chronicles, encyclopedias, dictionaries allowed scientists to conclude that the family fund of Koreans is shrinking. Among modern Koreans, the total number of which is 75 million people, about 50 surnames are common.
The peculiarity of Korean anthroponymy is the presence of a toponymic name - bon ("root", "base", "origin"). Bon is the name of the area where the ancestors of this person come from.

Each surname has a certain number of bonds. For example, the surname Kim had about several hundred bons, of which 72 are the most frequent at present; for the surname Li, the most common are about 90. Some surnames, such as Khan, have only one bon. Although the toponymic name is not included in official documents, almost all adult Koreans know their bon, since persons with the same bon are considered close relatives, and marriages between them were prohibited until the 90s.
Koreans in the territory of the Russian Far East at the turn of the last and present centuries had new surnames created by adding to the surname ending in a vowel the suffix - gai, the origin of which has not received a final clarification.
The most common version is that since Korean surnames are much shorter than Russian ones, Russian officials on Far East they began to add a suffix to monosyllabic surnames when filling out documents.
In Kazakhstan, for example, the following surnames of this type are found: Degai, Digai, Dyugai, Egai, Kigai, Lagai, Ligai, Lyugai, Migai, Nigai, Nogai, Ogai, Pegai, Pyagai, Tigai, Tyugai, Tyagai, Ugai, Khegai, Chagai , Shegai, Shigai, Yugai, etc. Neither on the Korean Peninsula, nor among foreign Koreans in China, Japan, the USA and other countries, such a phenomenon is observed.

The meaning that each name carries

As is known, in Korea today, the use of their own alphabet "Hangul" is widespread. However, almost all Korean names are of hieroglyphic origin and Chinese characters are used to write them. In fact, there are no established names in Korea, and each name is a combination of two characters with a suitable meaning. Thus, looking at this or that Korean name, you can find out what meaning and what hopes the parents invested in naming their child with that name. Of course, the most suitable for the name are hieroglyphs that mean certain positive qualities and properties - sincerity ("chon" - 정), beauty ("mi" - 미), honoring parents ("hyo" - 효), etc. Also hieroglyphs, which are the names of animals or any objects of the material world, can be used to compose a name. For example, syllables such as "ho" (호, meaning "tiger"), "juice" (석, meaning "stone"), or "hwa" (화, meaning "flower") often appear in names. The number of such hieroglyphs is measured in hundreds, and even thousands, and therefore it is not surprising that in Korea it is very difficult to meet namesakes, that is, people who have the same name.
Let's revisit the name of the already mentioned Korean actor Bae Yong-jun and try to unravel its meaning. The syllable "yon" (용/勇) means "bravery" or "courage", and the second syllable "zhong" (준/俊) means something "outstanding", "exceptional" and "worthy of great attention". Thus, the name Yong-jun, whose meaning can be deciphered as "an outstanding and courageous person", is the best fit for this actor, who has gained great fame and recognition of his talent, as in Korea, as well as beyond.
Koreans sincerely believe that the name given to a child at birth can influence his fate. For this reason, parents take very seriously the issue of choosing a name suitable for their child, which would protect him from all sorts of misfortunes and bring good luck throughout his life.

Can a name change fate? Then it should be picked up by a professional fortune teller!

Of course, all parents without exception want their child to be healthy, happy and successful. In this regard, they take a very responsible approach to the issue of choosing a suitable name for him, which in itself is a very difficult task. Indeed, in order to choose the right name, it is necessary to take into account such important concepts of Eastern philosophy as the doctrine of "sazhu" (year, month, day and hour of birth, which determines the future fate of a person) and the theory of "yin-yang" (continuous interaction two opposite principles - female "yin" and male "yang") and five primary elements "u-sin" (wood, fire, earth, metal, water). Therefore, it is very common for parents to turn to specialized centers "Jakmyeongseo" (작명소), where a professional fortune teller selects a name for the child that best suits all the important factors.
Soothsayers involved in the choice of names claim: " It is impossible to change fate, but a well-chosen name can attract additional luck and happiness to a person.". Recently, the number of people who consider the selection of a name in accordance with the basics of oriental natural philosophy, relics of the past, has increased. However, the number of couples who seek help from Chakmyeongseo centers does not decrease, and fortunetellers working there do not sit idle. It is noteworthy that that in bookstores today you can see a lot of printed publications that reveal the "secrets" of choosing a suitable name for a child, and often parents resort to their help to solve this pressing problem on their own.
Couples who go to Chakmyeongseo "name" centers often offer several options for the names they like, from which a professional fortuneteller chooses the most suitable name for the child. Everything can happen in reverse: the fortuneteller himself will offer a list of names that will meet all the necessary criteria, and the parents, in turn, will make their choice in favor of one or another option.
As a rule, the cost of such a service ranges from 100,000 to 1 million won. Advances in technology have made it possible for numerous "naming" centers to provide their naming services online, further increasing the popularity of the practice.
The following are the meanings of Chinese characters (hanchi) in Korean names. Most can be used in both feminine and masculine names, and some can only be used in feminine or masculine names.

First, the syllable is written in Korean, in brackets is the hieroglyph from which it is taken, then the Russian transliteration and the meaning of the hieroglyph. Please note that the same Korean syllable can have a different meaning depending on which character was used in the name given by the parents to the child.
빈 (斌) - Bing - refined, refined
병 (炳) - Byeong - bright, bright, glorious
도 (道) – Do – road, path
동 (東) – Dong – East
대 (大) – Te – big, great
자 (子) – Jah - child
지 (智) - Ji - wisdom
지 (地) - Ji - earth
지 (枝) - Ji - branch
지 (知) – Ji - knowledge
지 (志) - Ji - will, goal, ambition
지 (芝) – Ji - sesame
진 (珍) – Jin – noble, treasure
진 (震) - jin - shaking, shivering
진 (鎭) - Jin - market, city
진(眞) – Jin – real, genuine
정 (廷) - Jong - judge
정 (婷) - Jong - beautiful, graceful
정 (貞) - Jong - chaste, faithful, virtuous
정 (靜) - Jong - silent, quiet, gentle
정 (正) - Jong - positive, correct
종 (敏) – Jong – lineage, family
주 (珠) - Ju - pearl
주 (周) – Ju - rounded
준 (准) - Jun - approval, permission
준 (君) – Jun is the king
준 (俊) - Jun - talented, outstanding, exceptional
준 (军) – Jun – army
중 (中) – Jung - middle
영 (英) - Yong - flower, petal, hero
영 (榮) - Yong - glory, prosperity
영 (永) – Yong – eternity
영 (映) - yong - reflected light
영(泳) – Yong - floating
용 (勇) - Yong - courage, courage
일 (日) – Il - day
예 (藝) - Ye - art
경 (京) – Gyeong – capital
경 (景) – Gyeong – landscape
경 (敬) - Kyung - respect, honor
경 (慶) – Gyeong - holiday
기 (起) - Ki - beginning, basis
김 (金) - Kim - gold
근 (根) - Kun - root, base
명 (明) - Myeong - light, clear
미 (美) - Mi - beauty
민 (旼) – Ming – gentle, friendly
민 (敏) – Ming – diligent, smart
민 (珉) – Ming – jade
민 (民) - Ming - a person, a city dweller
민 (旻) – Ming – fast, diligent
상 (常) – Sang – frequent
상 (尚) - Sang - still, still
서 (舒) – So – open, comfortable, light
서 (瑞) – So – lucky, auspicious
서 (徐) - So - slow, calm
서 (序) – So - sequential
석 (石) - Juice - stone
석 (錫) – Juice - tin
성 (成) – Song – completed
성 (盛) - Song - abundant, blooming
성 (星) – Song – star
성 (性) - Song - nature, character
성 (聖) – Song – holy, sacred
수 (秀) - Su - beautiful, outstanding
수 (洙) – Su is the character for the Zhu River (in China)
수 (收) – Su – harvest
수 (壽) – Su – long life
숙 (淑) - Suk - pure, virtuous, chaste
시 (始) - Xi - beginning
승 (昇) - Seung - rise, rise
승 (勝) - Seung - victory
승(承) – Seung is the heir
하 (夏) – Ha – summer
하 (昰) – Ha - name
환 (煥) - hwang - bright, shiny
혜 (慧) – Hye – bright
혜 (惠) - Hye - benefit, advantage
현 (賢) - hyung - virtuous
현 (顯) - hyung - clear, clear
현 (炫) - hyung - shining, sparkling
현 (鉉) - Hyeon - a character for a device for raising the cauldron
희 (姬) - Hee - beauty
희 (熙) - Hee - bright, magnificent, glorious
희 (嬉) - Hee - pleasure
후 (厚) – Hu - fat
훈 (勛) - Hong - feat, valor
호 (虎) - Ho - tiger
호 (浩) - Ho - great, overwhelming, significant
호 (昊) - Ho - summer, sky, paradise
호 (好) - Ho - excellent
호 (鎬) - Ho - bright
호 (晧) - Ho - dawn
호 (皓) - Ho - bright, luminous, clear
철 (哲) - Chol - wisdom
채 (采) – Che – to collect
우 (祐) - Wu - divine intervention, protection
우 (雨) - Wu - rain
우 (宇) - Wu - house, universe
우 (佑) - Wu - help, protection, blessing
원 (原) - Won - beginning, source
원(元) - Won - beginning
원(媛) - Won - beauty
은 (恩) - Eun - kindness, mercy
은 (銀) - Eun - silver, money
은 (慇) - Eun - caution, attentiveness
유 (裕) – Yu - abundance
윤 (允) – Yun - consent
윤(昀) – Yun – sunshine
윤 (潤) – Yun - soft

Fashion for names

Fashion trends can be relevant not only when choosing clothes or shoes, but also when choosing a name as well. In different years in Korea certain names were popular. For example, in the 1940s and 1950s, many boys were given the names Yeonsu (영수), Yongho (영호), and Yeongchol (영철), and girls were named Sunja (순자), Yeonja (영자), Yonghee (영희) and others. . In particular, the female names "Sunja" and "Yongja" have Japanese roots, and today it is almost impossible to meet a young girl with that name.
At present, the tradition of giving a child a name, the root of which is the original Korean words, is becoming more and more popular. For example, today you can often hear such "Korean" names as "Haneul" (하늘, meaning "sky"), "Areum" (아름, meaning "beauty"), "Iseul" (이슬, meaning "purity", literally - "dew"), "Ojin" (어진, that is, "kind and wise person"). That is, euphonious Korean words are used as the name, which carry a positive and deep meaning.
At the same time, in modern Korea the number of "Americanized" names is growing, which is associated with the process of globalization of Korean society and the growing popularity of foreign, especially American, culture. Many Koreans have begun to use names that are not difficult to pronounce in English and which at the same time can be written in Chinese characters with a good meaning. Examples of such two-in-one names are Suji (수지, or Susie), Jaein (제인, or Jane), Eugene (유진, or Eugene) and other "English" names that are preferred by more and more family today. steam.

Korea. Names, surnames, addresses to each other

Namesakes and namesakes

Writing

How do Koreans come up with names?

Korean names are:

Review

Surnames

Names

Transcription

Romanization

Cyrillicization

Usage

Story

Ancient Korean names

Mongolian influence

Japanese influence

see also

Notes

Literature

Links

Help me come up with a first and last name for a Korean girl and a guy

Korean given names and surnames

The meaning and history of surnames

Popular names for girls

Namesakes and namesakes

Writing

How do Koreans come up with names?

Representatives of this nationality can find such unusual names for boys:

Rare male names of Korean origin

Among these adapted names are the following:

For the names of sons choose:

General information

Natural philosophy

How to choose female and male Korean names

Popular Korean names include:

Namesakes and namesakes

How do Koreans come up with names?

Korean female names

Korean names for men

Watch the video: Korean names and surnames / Personal name and family (clan) name

Bonds of Korean surnames

The meaning that each name carries

Can a name change fate? Then it should be picked up by a professional fortune teller!

Fashion for names