The enduring popularity of the Kim family name can be traced back to its royal origins. Kim has its roots in two separate royal families; the Silla dynasty (57BC — 935AD) and the Gaya confederacy (42AD-562AD). When these two kingdoms united, the resulting merger led to Kim becoming one of the most popular family names.
21.6% of Korean people bear the family name Kim. However, they all come from different family clans and have different ancestors.
The most common Korean surname (particularly in South Korea) is Kim, followed by Lee and Park.
Goguryeo (also spelled as Koguryŏ) was also known as Goryeo (also spelled as Koryŏ), and it eventually became the source of the modern name of Korea.
Unified Silla lasted for 267 years until falling to Goryeo, under the leadership King Gyeongsun, in 935. Joseon, born out of the collapsed Goryeo in 1392, also ruled the entire peninsula, that rule lasting until Japan annexed Korea in 1910. The period of Japanese colonization lasted until 1945.
When Japan was defeated in World War II, Soviet forces took control of the North, and American forces took control of the South, with the 38th parallel as the agreed-upon dividing line. South Korea is independent as of August 15, 1945, and North Korea as of September 9, 1945.
But not even all those who are Kims by inheritance are the same. A basic unit of the Korean traditional kinship system is the clan, or bongwan, a group whose surname signifies a common geographical origin. Thus, different Kims can trace their lineage to different places, most notably Gimhae.
North Korean law does not formally ban marriage between people with the same last name, while the Civil Code of Republic of Korea inherited the prohibition on same-surname marriage from the colonial era.
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.
Korean: written 김 in Chinese characters 金 meaning 'gold'. This is the only Chinese character for the surname Kim which is the most common Korean surname comprising about 20 percent of the Korean population.
The surname Kim has its roots in two separate royal families of Korea, the Silla dynasty and the Gaya confederacy. The Silla dynasty, which spanned from 57 BC to 935 AD, observed the rule of Kim family for 700 years.
Aegiya (애기야) – “Baby”
The word 애기 (aegi) is a cute way of saying 아기 (agi), which means “baby. This Korean term is used as a sweet way of saying “baby”.
Moon, also spelled Mun, is a Korean family name, a single-syllable Korean given name, and an element in some two-syllable Korean given names.
As these two Kim clans descend from different patrilineages, a Gimhae Kim and a Gyeongju Kim can marry. Before the 1997 Constitutional Court decision, however, two members of the 4 million Gimhae Kim could not marry, regardless of the distance of their relationship. ... For centuries, South Korea has had a law ...
Is There Still a Royal Family in Korea? There is still an Imperial royal family of Korea. His Imperial Highness King Yi Seok has lived his entire life in Korea.
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.
Kim, Lee and Park were once again the top three. Kim, Lee and Park have traditionally been the most common surnames in Korea. Korean family names are typically one syllable in length, with a few exceptions.
Boo - Korean singer/songwriter BOO Seungkwan hails from Jeju Island. His last name is as rare as his birthplace. Only about 10,000 Koreans sport the surname.
Each Korean name usually consists of three syllables. The first is the family name while the second and third are the given name. For example, in the name KIM Min Su (김민수), KIM is the family name. The family name (or 'surname') is inherited patrilineally from one's father and shared with other siblings.
World War II devastated not just Japan, but the Korean Peninsula, and in 1945, the United States and the USSR captured the peninsula and ended Japanese rule there.
Japan set up a government in Korea with the governor-generalship filled by generals or admirals appointed by the Japanese emperor. The Koreans were deprived of freedom of assembly, association, the press, and speech. Many private schools were closed because they did not meet certain arbitrary standards.
Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) was a contradictory experience for Koreans. On the one hand, Japanese colonialism was often quite harsh. For the first ten years Japan ruled directly through the military, and any Korean dissent was ruthlessly crushed.