The top 3 Korean last names, often called the "big three," are Kim (김), Lee (이), and Park (박), collectively shared by nearly half the population and historically linked to royalty and aristocracy, with Kim being the most common.
Kim, Lee and Park have traditionally been the most common surnames in Korea.
Rare Korean Surnames
Korean names usually have three parts: the family or surname placed first, and a name identifying the generation, alternating each generation to second or third place with the given personal name.
Today, Lee (romanized as Lee, I, Yi (South Korea), Ri (North Korea)) is one of the top five Korean surnames. The surname today traces its roots to two main families in Korea. The first, the most famous, is the Jeonju Yi clan, the surname of Yi Seong-gye, 이성계, the first ruler of the Joseon dynasty.
Lee, I, or Yi (Korean: 이; 리) is the second-most-common surname in Korea, behind Kim (김). As of the South Korean census of 2015, there were 7,306,828 people by this name in South Korea or 14.7% of the population. Historically, 李 was written as Ni (니) in Korea.
In the late Joseon Dynasty it started to become common for everyone to have last names. Lee and Park are some examples of names common in the aristocracy, so they were favored and adopted by many families.
The longest name ever recorded in South Korea is “Haneulbyeollimgureumhaennimbodasarangseureouri” which prompted a 1993 law that a given name can be no more than five syllables. Choi is a common Korean family name that can be traced back to the year 857.
In the Silla kingdom (57 BCE–935 CE)—which variously battled and allied with other states on the Korean peninsula and ultimately unified most of Korea in 668—Kim (which means “gold”) was the name of a family that rose to prominence and became the rulers of Silla for 700 years.
With this it shows that the surname Han may have existed since the time of Gojoseon and establishes the Han clan (韓) as the oldest surname in Korea (dating back to around 5000 years ago) and as the rulers Gojoseon and Mahan.
There's no single definitive "Top 10 Rarest Last Names" list, as rarity varies globally and by census, but exceptionally rare names often have very few bearers (sometimes under 100), appearing in lists for names potentially going extinct, such as Sallow, Fernsby, Villin, Miracle, Dankworth, Relish, MacQuoid, Loughty, Birdwhistle, and Berrycloth, or unique ones like Afify, Allaband, or Guillebeaux, found in U.S. census data or genealogy records.
Despite sharing the same last name, they're not related—Kim is simply one of the most common surnames in Korea.
Choi (Korean: 최; Hanja: 崔) is a Korean family surname. As of the South Korean census of 2015, there were around 2.3 million people by this name in South Korea or roughly 4.7% of the population.
Kim. Kim is a prominent Korean surname with royal prestige attached to it. This is because, in Korean history, the Kim family rose to power and ruled the Silla Dynasty for over 500 years. Lee. Lee, also spelled I or Yi sometimes, is a surname that can be traced back to the House of Yi (of the Joseon Dynasty).
The most common Korean slang for "WTF" includes 헐 (Heol) for shock/disbelief, 뭐야? (Mwoya?) meaning "What is this?", and for stronger vulgarity, the abbreviation ㅅㅂ (S-B) for 씨발 (Ssi-bal), similar to the English f-word.
Holland is known as "the first openly gay K-pop idol". He is an only child. His parents found out about his sexuality after he discussed it in an interview.
Yes, there is a woman known for having a name with over 1,000 letters, famously featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1997; her full name is Rhoshandiatellyneshiaunneveshenk Koyaanisquatsiuth Williams, but she goes by "Jamie" for simplicity, and her name was recorded as 1,019 letters long. Her mother gave her the name to make her unique and break the Guinness World Record, with the name containing parts of family names, places, and terms like "love" and "friend".
Korean uses two number systems, Sino-Korean (il, i, sam...) for dates, money, minutes, and Native Korean (hana, dul, set...) for general counting, age, and hours; 1-10 in Sino-Korean are 일 (il), 이 (i), 삼 (sam), 사 (sa), 오 (o), 육 (yuk), 칠 (chil), 팔 (pal), 구 (gu), 십 (sip), while in Native Korean they are 하나 (hana), 둘 (dul), 셋 (set), 넷 (net), 다섯 (daseot), 여섯 (yeoseot), 일곱 (ilgop), 여덟 (yeodeol), 아홉 (ahop), 열 (yeol).
The civil law states that the legal age of adulthood begins from 19 years old by international standard. This means that even if a person is 20 years old in Korean age, they may not be able to vote.
The legal drinking age in Korea for foreigners is 19 years of age for most people. Specifically, adults can legally drink alcohol from January 1st of the year they turn 20, since everyone adds one year at the start of the new year.
There isn't one single "rarest last name" globally, as rarity changes by region, but some names are incredibly scarce, with examples including Pober, Mirren, Febland in England, Gambello (around 60 globally), and unique historical names like Marsvin (Danish noble, extinct male line) or names that have nearly vanished like Twelvetrees or Birdwhistle. Rarity often comes from geographic origins, recent migration, or names dying out, with some existing with only a handful of people.
Park (Korean: 박; pronounced [pak̚]), also spelled as Pak or Bak, is the third-most common surname in Korea, traditionally traced back to 1st century King Hyeokgeose Park and theoretically inclusive of all of his descendants. Park or Bak is usually assumed to come from the Korean noun Bak (박), meaning "gourd".
The top five surnames in China – Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Chen – are also the top five surnames in the world, each with over 70-100 million worldwide.