Deconstructing Korean Names

Part 1 of 2, First names

Consider this.

“What is your name?”

Albus Dumbledore.

“What is your full name?”

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

This sort of dialogue doesn’t compute in East Asia.

“What is your name?”

장영익 (Jang Young-ik).

“What is your full name?”

??? I just gave you my full name.

I’m pretty sure that you already know that in Asia, the last name (family name, surname) comes before the given (first) name. My name 장영익 is actually spelled a little differently, but in America, my “first” name is Young, and my “middle” name is Ik, but they’re not a separate entity. It’s just one name—Young-ik. There is no concept of a “full name” or a “middle” name in East Asian countries like Korea, Japan, and China. (But I will keep referring to “middle” name for this posting.)

It’s easier to understand this with Japanese names. The mythical creator of Bitcoin is Satoshi Nakamoto (whether a real person or not, it is a real Japanese name). Here, Nakamoto is the last name, and Satoshi is the first (given) name. And his name written in kanji (Chinese characters in Japanese writing system) is 中本哲史. Although there are different ways of writing the “Satoshi” part, we’ll go with the above example for an illustration purpose.

中 (Naka) 本 (Moto) is the last name, and 哲史 is the given name. 哲 is pronounced as Sato and 史 as Shi, but you would never say Sato is the first name and Shi is the middle name. It’s just one name—Satoshi.

Most of Japanese last names are like Nakamoto in that they are comprised of two kanji characters. Other examples include, 豊田 (Toyoda), 本田 (Honda), 鈴木 (Suzuki), and 川崎 (Kawasaki). But there are a few last names that have only one kanji character like, 林 (Hayashi), 森 (Mori), and 原 (Hara).

The opposite is true in Korean and Chinese last names. They’re almost exclusively one character long. Like 김 (金, Kim or Ghim), 이 (李, Lee or Yi), 박 (朴, Park or Bak), and of course my 장 (張, Chang or Jang). There are a few last names that have two characters, like 독고 (獨孤, Dokgo), 선우 (鮮于, Sunwoo), and 남궁 (南宮, Namgoong), but they’re very rare.

Then, there’s the case of the given names. They’re usually two syllables, like Young-ik (영익), or Heung-min (흥민), or Ji-sung (지성). Let’s look at some real names so that you get a better idea.

• 이지은 (Yi Ji-Eun, better known as IU)

• 김태형 (Kim Tae-hyong, V of BTS)

• 봉준호 (Bong Joon-ho, director of Parasite)

• 손흥민 (Son Heung-min, soccer star, Tottenham Hotspur)

• 신류진 (Shin Ryu-jin, K-pop star, Itzy member)

• 박세리 (Pak Se-ri, former golfer, LPGA Hall of Famer)

You can see now that Korean names have a definite structure in that they all have same number of characters (= syllables). But again, there are cases where the given name is only one syllable. The Josun Dynasty Kings were this way. The birth name of King Sejong was Yi Do (이도), and almost all of his descendant Kings had one syllable given names. The Josun Dynasty Kings are Jeonju Yi (李) family (more on this Jeonju thing next posting).

• Sejong: Yi Do (이도)

• Munjong, Sejong’s first son: Yi Hyang (이향)

• Sejo, Sejong’s second son who overthrew and killed Danjong, his nephew: Yi Yoo (이유)

• Sunjo, King during the Japanese invasion of 1592: Yi Yon (이연)

• Youngjo, the longest reigning King of Josun: Yi Geum (이금)

• Jungjo, Youngjo’s grandson: Yi San (이산)

• Soonjong, the last King of Josun: Yi Chuk (이척)

And even rarer, there are 3-syllable given names as well, like my grandmother.

Then, there’s the question of dollimja (돌림자). One of the long standing naming traditions, siblings (mostly brothers only) share the same character in either the “first” or the “middle” name. For example, the late Samsung Chairman and CEO Lee Gun-hee had 7 siblings (4 sisters and 3 brothers) that had the same “middle” name.

• In-hee (인희)

• Maeng-hee (맹희)

• Chang-hee (창희)

• Sook-hee (숙희)

• Soon-hee (순희)

• Duk-hee (덕희)

• Gun-hee (건희)

• Myong-hee (명희)

My family is the same way. All my cousins’ (boys) middle name is Ik. There’s me, Young-ik, my brother is Ji-ik, and there’s Woo-ik, Yong-ik, Bong-ik, Myong-ik, Shin-ik, Sung-ik, Joon-ik… This “shared” character in names is called dollimja, and this could be used in the first or the middle name. For instance, one of my childhood friends 박상진 (Bak Sang-jin) had his brothers named,

• Sang-jin (상진)

• Sang-joon (상준)

• Sang-jae (상재)

• Sang-hoon (상훈)

This family would have had a hell of a time in the US—they’re all Sang Park’s!! Even the middle initials are the same for 3 of them. This happens more frequently in Korea than you might imagine, and it is perfectly normal.

Unlike the names of European traditions, there is no clear delineation between boys names and girls names, like “Thomas” and “Jane.” Usually, you would look at the “middle” name to figure out whether the person is male or female but there’s no hard and fast rule regarding this. For example, if someone’s name ends in (the middle name)…

• Hoon (훈)

• Joon (준)

• Suk (Seok) (석)

• Soo (Su) (수)

• Ki (Gi) (기)

• Kyu (Gyu) (규)

• Tae (태)

• Shik (Sik) (식)

… these are likely a male name, the keyword here is “likely.” On the flipside, if someone’s name ends in…

• Sook (Suk) (숙)

• Hee (희)

• Mi (미)

• Ah (아)

• Eun (Un) (은)

• Hye (혜)

• Soon (Sun) (순)

• Na (or Ra, La) (나, 라)

They are probably female.

… or if the name ends in these…

• Min (민)

• Jin (진)

• Hyun (현)

• Joo (Ju) (주)

• Young (영)

All bets are off.

Remember these are just a rough guideline, and you can’t rely on these. A case in point. There was a Korean president named Park Jung-hee (박정희) who was in office from 1961 until his assassination in 1979. And his wife, the first lady who herself was killed in 1974 from a stray bullet by a North Korean sympathizer, was named Yook Young-su (육영수).

Apparently there was a comedic moment during their wedding. Deliberately or not, the master of ceremony of the wedding had announced,

• the groom Yook Young-su

• the bride Park Jung-hee

And the crowd supposedly had burst out in a quiet laughter.

A personal note: As I began writing, I thought I could fit everything into one single posting, but it just got way too long. Stories about last names are forthcoming next week.