The most common Korean surname (particularly in South Korea) is Kim (Korean: 김; Hanja: 金), followed by Lee (이; 李) and Park (박; 朴).
About 45 percent of the Korean population has one of three surnames—Kim, Park, or Lee—but Kims are the most plentiful.
Rare Korean Surnames
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 the country in 668—Kim was the name of a family that rose to prominence and became the rulers of Silla for 586 years.
According to MyHeritage's blog, “endangered” last names with fewer than 20 contemporary “bearers” include:
Pretty Korean girl names
Mi Cha. Combine mi and cha together to get one of the sweetest Korean names for girls. Mi means “beauty” and cha means “daughter,” which is perfect for your very beautiful daughter!
The name Suk has its origins in the Korean language. It derives its meaning from two words: stone and strong.
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.
Today, many Koreans have Kim, Park, and Lee as their last names. These “big three” are the prestigious Korean last names that are primarily associated with royals and the upper class. The last name Kim means gold, and it is also the last name of Kings.
2. Lee (or Yi) (이)
The name Lee means “plum” or “plum tree.” In 2015, 7.3 million Koreans — or 14.7% of the population — had this surname.
Koreans don't have middle names. Other times the given names are not separated by a hyphen. Women keep their maiden names after marriage but sometimes add a prefix that is the equivalent of "Mrs." Only when associating with Westerners do Korean women occasionally identify themselves by their husband's surname.
Kim is a unisex given name. It is also used as a diminutive or nickname for names such as Kimber, Kimberly, Kimberley, Kimball and Kimiko. In Kenya, it is short for various male names such as Kimutai and Kimani. In Vietnam, it is also a unisex name.
Sam (삼) literally means "three" and is among Korea's rarest family names.
Han Ji-sung (Korean: 한지성; born September 14, 2000), known mononymously as Han, is a South Korean rapper, singer, and songwriter.
A more detailed analysis using 65 alleles at 19 polymorphic loci was performed on six populations. Both analyses demonstrated genetic evidence of the origin of Koreans from the central Asian Mongolians. Further, the Koreans are more closely related to the Japanese and quite distant from the Chinese.
Le is the Pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname (written 乐 in Simplified Chinese characters and 樂 in Traditional Chinese characters); it is Lok in Cantonese.
Yoo (Korean surname), also spelled Ryu or Yu, a Korean family name.
Chinese Letter I (YI) – Pronunciation
So how do you say YI? It is quite easy, just like the end of “tea” or “pee”. We'd recommend tightening your lips into a bit of a weird smile so that you continue to practice exaggerating, but it is seriously not difficult to say. Give it a shot.