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Piece of Trivia: How are Korean names derived?

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PlatinumGold

Lifer
I think it's pretty interesting so i thought i would post it for those that aren't as familiar with Korean Culture.

Koreans are more geneology centric than any other culture. most koreans can track their geneologies back 20 to 25 generations.

but part of it is in the name.

Korean names usually consist of 3 syllables. the first syllable is the family name. the 2nd and 3rd syllables are the given name.

Family name: in korean, each family name written in the chinese = the clan they are from. some phonetically similar names (Kim or Lee) have many different chinese iterations.

Given Name: the given name is made up of 2 syllables. the one syllable is the given part the other syllable represents that generation. so my cousins and i all have Ki as our middle second syllable (well that's until my dad change the name given to me by my grandfather to Johann [he's a christian pastor]).

not all koreans follow these customs but many do.

just thought that some ATOTers would be interested.

edited for a clarity.

from post below.


Kim would be the family name

either Byung or Hyun would be the Doolim. (i made a mistake in my original post). it's not necessarily the second syllable.

the DooLim is used by all sibling, cousins, second cousins that are of the same generation.

for example, i had a professer who's name is

Dae-Guk Nam

there is only one clan Nam. he was of the Guk DooLim.

Dae = Greatest or Biggest, he was the Oldest person with the DooLim Guk.

it's kind of hard to explain i guess.

my cousins names are

Sung Ki
Gap Ki
Yung Ki
Suk Ki

my name would have been
Min Ki

my sons names are

Tae Jun
Tae Hyun
 
THANK GOD.

I was afraid it was going to be the old "Toss the silver wear down the stairs" joke or a derivative of it.

This is much more interesting than the joke BTW!
 
Originally posted by: Brutuskend
THANK GOD.

I was afraid it was going to be the old "Toss the silver wear down the stairs" joke or a derivative of it.

This is much more interesting than the joke BTW!
Click to expand...

i don't even know the joke you are referring too, but i'll leave the jokes to you. 😉

 
Maybe I'm dense but I didn't understand one word of that.

use examples. I'll provide two.

Byung-Hyun Kim
Chan Ho Park
 
Originally posted by: murphy55d
Maybe I'm dense but I didn't understand one word of that.

use examples. I'll provide two.

Byung-Hyun Kim
Chan Ho Park
Click to expand...

Kim would be the family name

either Byung or Hyun would be the Doolim. (i made a mistake in my original post). it's not necessarily the second syllable.

the DooLim is used by all sibling, cousins, second cousins that are of the same generation.

for example, i had a professer who's name is

Dae-Guk Nam

there is only one clan Nam. he was of the Guk DooLim.

Dae = Greatest or Biggest, he was the Oldest person with the DooLim Guk.

it's kind of hard to explain i guess.

my cousins names are

Sung Ki
Gap Ki
Yung Ki
Suk Ki

my name would have been
Min Ki

my sons names are

Tae Jun
Tae Hyun

 
Originally posted by: faenix
Yi Jong Eun is my name 🙂
Click to expand...

is Jong or Eun the DooLim. (do you have siblings?)

btw, if some of you have korean friends with korean names, you'll have notice that the brothers all have a similar syllable.

for example

Young is a pretty common syllable in guys names.

or Sung
 
Originally posted by: Baked
Everybody's Chinese in Asia.
Click to expand...

if you define "Chinese" as being equal to following the teachings of Confucious, the Koreans actually follow the teachings of Confucious closer than any other ethnic group.
 
My best pal is korean and his name is In Sung Han. His sister's name is Soo Yun Han. If my friend was to have a son or daughter how would he go about naming them?? You seem to know more about korean culture than he does 😛

Oh..my name is Ray ..son of Ramon.. of the Burgos clan.. ahem.... 😉
 
Originally posted by: raystorm
My best pal is korean and his name is In Sung Han. His sister's name is Soo Yun Han. If my friend was to have a son or daughter how would he go about naming them?? You seem to know more about korean culture than he does 😛

Oh..my name is Ray ..son of Ramon.. of the Burgos clan.. ahem.... 😉
Click to expand...

sounds like Han is their family name.

he could consult the Geneolgy charts of the Han family in Korea. he could then find his fathers name and his name in the books. find out how many generations they are from the orginal Han that they are all named after. then find the oldest "cousin's" child in the serious of geneology charts. then determine which is the Doo Lim for that generation. then he would use that doo lim in the names of his son. sometimes people use the doolim for daughters sometimes not.

😉

i didn't know any of this growing up. i went back to korea about 12 years ago after having lived in the states for 23 yrs. i learned a lot of this from my father in law as i got married while in korea.
 
Originally posted by: TheInvincibleMustard
I'm American, honey ... our names don't mean ****
Click to expand...

Seriously, though ... that's really cool! I had no idea it was so complicated ... wow.
Click to expand...

🙂

ya, korean cultures uniqueness or point of interest really revolves around their hangup with tracking ancestors. many koreans still practice what amounts to ancestor worship. koreans have also been very good about keeping records.

 
Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Originally posted by: faenix
Yi Jong Eun is my name 🙂
Click to expand...

is Jong or Eun the DooLim. (do you have siblings?)

btw, if some of you have korean friends with korean names, you'll have notice that the brothers all have a similar syllable.

for example

Young is a pretty common syllable in guys names.

or Sung
Click to expand...

I know what you are talking about, but I think it's becoming less common.

My sister's name is Sue Min.

Although on my mother's side, their names were Kyung Hee, Sul Hee, Bek Hee, and something else I forgot but followed Hee.

 
Originally posted by: faenix
Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
Originally posted by: faenix
Yi Jong Eun is my name 🙂
Click to expand...

is Jong or Eun the DooLim. (do you have siblings?)

btw, if some of you have korean friends with korean names, you'll have notice that the brothers all have a similar syllable.

for example

Young is a pretty common syllable in guys names.

or Sung
Click to expand...

I know what you are talking about, but I think it's becoming less common.

My sister's name is Sue Min.

Although on my mother's side, their names were Kyung Hee, Sul Hee, Bek Hee, and something else I forgot but followed Hee.
Click to expand...

yes it is.



 
that's how my son's korean name was derived: In-Chul (his legal middle name). In was the doolim.

And that's how myself and the cousins in my generation were named: Min-Goo, Jong-Koo (pronounced "Goo").

while American might find this trivial, i think it's pretty neat 🙂
 
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