Korean Job Discussion Forums

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

Hello,
I know this has been brought up, but a search here found nothing.

I'm interested in seeing the hanja for some of the more frequent Korean names (specifically 김 and 오). Could somebody point me toward a webpage or a preexisting thread? Thanks!

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

DOn't know a webpage, but I do know they are not all the same. I heard there are actually classes to the Hanja for various names, and a certain "Kim" could be more prestigious, upperclass, I don't know what word to use, that another "Kim". This is what one of my Korean teachers told me. I have nothing to back this up though Wink

mithridates · Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 5:20 am Post subject:

Here's one for surnames in general:

http://www.burimhong.pe.kr/jaryo%20room/name%20tonggye-2000.htm

Here's the one laogaiguk was talking about with the surnames divided by region:

http://www.poori.net/cgi/technote/read.cgi?board=myroot&y_number=307

Smee · Joined: 24 Dec 2004 Location: Jeollanam-do

Thanks, those links are great.

What prompted me to ask was seeing a student write 金 for 김, which confused me b/c I didn't think they would pronounce it that way.

out of context · Joined: 08 Jan 2006 Location: Daejeon

There's also Wikipedia's list, which gives comprehension population figures for each surname, but lumps together all the names that have the same pronunciation of different Hanja characters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Korean_family_names

Re: the regional distinction. I decided to come up with a Korean name for myself, and I used the family name 고, since the meaning of my original surname includes a part meaning "high". At that time, I had a part-time job teaching at a middle school, and they sent a regular taxi driver to take me there. I happened to mention that I'd come up with a Korean name, and he instructed me to tell anyone who asked that I was a 평택 高씨. Because clearly anyone looking at my obviously Anglo self would wonder.

The 金 character is pronounced 김 in personal names and place names (e.g. 김포, 김해), and 금 everywhere else. Another one is 沈: it's pronounced 심 as a surname and 침 everywhere else.

dogbert · Joined: 29 Jan 2003 Location: Killbox 90210

Several Chinese characters have more than one pronounciation in Korean.

Here's another good site, and if you read closely therein, you can see how Korean homogeneity is a myth.

www.rootsinfo.co.kr