Naming a child in Korea follows a basic formula, family name first then the given name. There are also very elaborate naming processes with the family, but that is way too complicated to cover here.
Names
The most common Korean family names are Kim, Lee (Yi, Rhee), Park (Pak), Choi (Cho), Jung (Jeong, Chung, Cheong) with Kim, Lee, and Park making up 45% of all Korean family names. There are other Korean family names but as you can see Kim, Lee and Park are overwhelmingly the most common. More meaning is given to the given name, which comes next.
The given names are not so much 2 separate names, but one name with two words/names. These names are chosen mainly for their meaning and sound together. For example, Gabe's given name is Yeong Min (pronounced Young Min), which means brilliant and wise. One would never interchange those 2 given names or use one without the other. Just like if your name was Mary Pat, you would not be called 'Mary' or 'Pat' or 'Pat Mary.' Some people do hyphenate the Korean name or smush it together to make it easier for Americans to pronounce and read, since the original intent of the name is to be said as one name.
4 comments:
I don't know who coined it, but I love the word smush in relation to Korean names!
I had no idea the "big three" were really that prevalent. How interesting!
Interesting! I had read that before and was surprised when our son had only one name, Hwan. Is that really unusual?
ditto on the word "smush" and i can tell Gabe is going to be brilliant and wise :)
hey! i wanted to make sure you got my email the other day. sometimes my account has issues and i know it has with your address before. hope you are doing well!
sue
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