The surname Kim (김) is the most common in Korea, used by over 10.6 million people, or 21.5% of the South Korean population, as of the 2015 census, followed by Lee (이) and Park (박), with these three names making up nearly half the population due to historical adoption by commoners seeking higher status.
1. Kim (김) The most common Korean surname, Kim (김), literally means "gold" or "metal" and is held by roughly 20% of all Koreans! Originating from noble clans during the Silla Dynasty (57 BCE-935 CE), the Kim surname carries tremendous prestige in Korean society.
The most common Korean surname (particularly in South Korea) is Kim (Korean: 김; Hanja: 金), followed by Lee (이; 李) and Park (박; 朴).
Rare Korean Surnames
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.
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.
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.
In hanja, it translates to "King”, “Kingdom”, “country" and/or “Korean people”. Han is the oldest name in Korea.
Korean names consist of two parts: a family name and a given name. Traditionally, a child takes their father's surname like in many other cultures, but Korean women do not take their husband's surname after marriage.
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.
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.
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.
A chaebol (UK: /ˈtʃeɪbəl, ˈtʃeɪbɒl/ CHAY-bəl, CHAY-bol, US: /ˈtʃeɪboʊl, ˈdʒɛbəl/ CHAY-bohl, JEB-əl; Korean: 재벌 [tɕɛbɔɭ], lit. 'rich family' or 'financial clique') is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family.
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.
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.
Not calling people by their given names is considered a part of Korean manners. In fact, doing otherwise is considered very disrespectful for some Koreans unless they are either in a close relationship with that person or they have a higher relative position.
Cute Korean Names
The Kim family name has royal origins, going as far back as the Silla dynasty (57 B.C.– 935 A.D.) and the Gaya confederacy (42 A.D.– 562 A.D.). When these two kingdoms united, the resulting merger led to Kim becoming one of the most common family names in Korea.
Han Ji-sung (Korean: 한지성; born September 14, 2000), known mononymously as Han, is a South Korean rapper, singer, and songwriter.
Chung is a surname whose bearers are generally people of Chinese or Korean descent.
These 35 surnames have been identified as having royal connections: See if yours is on the list
Boo (부) is a rare surname in Korea, only around 10 000 people have it.