Korean names and last names symbolizes different values and aspirations of individuals and their families. Many surnames in Korea are gained from only one word, which is influenced by the parents’ generation.
Unlike other countries, Korean people use their surnames at first instead of using them as last names. You might have noticed that the Korean last names are mostly Kim, Lee, and Park. These Korean surnames are known as “the big three.”
Here, we have compiled Korean surnames in a variety of niches.
Popular Korean Surnames
1. Byun
Byun is a last names in Korea that is popular among its Chinese community. It is an adaptation of a Chinese surname that refers to “hurried”.
2. Chai
Chai is another popular Korean surname that is derived from the Chinese origin. The meaning of this surname is “prosperous” or “flourishing”.
3. Cheong
The Korean surname Cheong can be translated as “clean” or “pure.” It represents the idea of being untainted or free from impurities.
4. Gim
The surname Gim is one of the most popular surnames in Korea, and many people have it. The meaning of the Gim is “gold.” It is related to brightness and shine.
5. Hahm
Hahm is a Western Korean occupational surname that originated from the occupation of being a “seller of weighing scales.” In the past, weighing scales were important tools for merchants and traders, and those who sold them adopted the surname Hahm.
6. Im
The Korean last name Im originated from the Sino-Korean word Lin which means “forest.” It is a beautiful and nature-inspired surname.
7. Jeon
Jeon is a spelling variant of the Korean surnames Chon or Chun and it refers to a “field.”
8. Joh
Joh which is a variant of the Korean surname “Cho”, is derived from the Chinese surname Zhao. Zhao was also the name of an ancient city in Shanxi province. Thus, Joh has historical connections to both Korea and China.
9. Kim
Kim is one of the popular surnames in Korea and it is derived from the Chinese surname Jin, which means “gold”. The surname “Kim” is held by a large number of people in Korea and has been associated with various historical figures.
10. Kwock
Kwock is the surname which is a variant of the name Gwak or Kwak. The meaning of this surname is “a surrounding area” or “city walls”.
11. Lee
The popular Korean surname Lee means “plum tree” or “plum blossom,” symbolizing beauty and vitality. In 2015, approximately 7.3 million Koreans had the surname Lee.
12. Mong
Family names Korean Mong is a variant of the surname Meng and refers to “suffer” or “ignorance”.
13. Myung
The surname Myung is derived from the Chinese surname Ming meaning “bright” or “brilliance”.
14. Nahm
Nahm is a popular Korean surnames that has the meaning of “south”. This surname is derived from the Korean word nam.
15. Paek
Paek is the surname which is also spelled as Baik or Paik in Korea meaning “white color”. In the year 2000, there were 351,275 people with this surname in South Korea.
16. Reeh
Reeh or Rhee is a variant of the Korean surname Yi or Li. It’s interesting to learn that it refers to a “plum tree”.
17. Quon
Quon is a Korean surname that means “power” or “authority.” This is a variant of the name Kwon or Quan.
18. Suh
This is a popular last names Korean. The meaning of this is “sir” or the casual greeting “What’s up?”.
19. Tak
The Korean surname Tak has a couple of possible meanings. One interpretation is that it means “to take charge” or “to assume responsibility.” Another interpretation is that it refers to a type of seaweed called “kelp.”
20. Yoon
The meaning of the surname Yoon means “governor”. About 1.02 million people reported having this surname in 2015.
21. Whang
Whang is a Korean family name that is a variant of Hwang. There are multiple meanings of these surnames as “yellow” or “golden,” symbolizing wealth or prosperity. Another is that it refers “to the royal color worn by emperors in ancient times.
22. Tan
Tan is derived from Chen and refers to “an exhibit” or “display,” which is a fascinating meaning for the surname. It is also considered the 56th most popular surname.
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Common Korean Surnames
Here is the list of common Korean last names:
23. Jeong
The surname Jeong is the variant of Jung which refers to “young”. Some 2.1 million Koreans surveyed were named Jung or Jeong, making it the fifth most common surname in the census.
24. Seong
Korea’s last name Seong refers to “succeed” or “accomplish”. The 2000 South Korean Census found 167,903 people with this family name, up by six percent from 158,385 in the 1985 census.
25. Dang
Dang has different types of meanings as it means “red” or “bright,” symbolizing vitality and energy. Another interpretation is that it refers to a type of plant called “mugwort,” which has cultural significance in Korea.
26. Han
Han is the typical Romanized spelling of the Korean family name. The meaning of this surname is “king”, “kingdom”, “country” or “Korean people”.
27. Mok
Korea last names Mok is a derivation of the Chinese word Mo which means “screen” or “curtain”.
28. Pung
Pung is a Korean surname that can be translated to “wind.” This surname carries the symbolic meaning of the wind, which can represent various qualities such as freedom, movement, and change.
29. Nam
Nam is a Korean family name meaning “south”.
30. Mae
Mae has several meanings depending on the hanja and they include “hawk,” “rope,” or “net.”
31. Kil
Kil is one of the common surname Korean which means “gold, metal, or iron”.
32. Dong-Geun
Dong-Geun is a surname that originated from the combination of two words Dong means “east,” while Geun “root” or “stem.” Therefore, the combined meaning of Dong-Geun can be interpreted as “eastern root” or “the root of the east.”
33. Kuk
Kuk is a different name from the Korean last name Kwack which means “the surrounding area”.
34. Shin
Shin also spelled as Sin or Sheen is a Korean surname. It has several meanings depending on the Chinese characters used to write it. Some possible meanings include “belief,” “trust,” “spirit,” or “god.
35. Seo
The surname Seo originated from a Sino-Korean word and has evolved into a surname. It carries the meaning of “calm” or “poised.”
36. Kangjeon
Kangjeon is one of the common Korean name that refers to “dependable”.
37. Bin
The meaning of the Bin is “empty,” “void,” or “white.” Isn’t it interesting how names can hold symbolic meanings that represent certain qualities or characteristics?
38. Won
The Korean surname Won is derived from the Chinese character meaning “circle” or “round.” This name symbolizes unity, continuity, or completeness.
39. Bong
Bong is a surname which is of Korean origin and is derived from the Chinese word Huang and Wang. Its Korean translation is “mythical bird”.
40. Si-u
In Korean, the surname Si-u means “to start or begin.”
41. Gok
The Korean surname Gok holds the meaning of “country”. Here, this surname indicates a connection to one’s ancestral land or a sense of belonging to a particular region or place.
42. Chay
Chay is a common Korean surname that is a variant of Chae. This is derived from a Chinese word that means “firewood”.
43. Geun
The surname Geun has a variety of spellings like Kun, Gun, or Keun, and it can also have the meaning of “the Chinese unit of mass called catty, Kati, or Jin”. It is great to know that Geun originates from Cheongju in Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea.
44. Ryu
The Korean surname Ryu comes from the character meaning “willow tree.” The willow tree is known for its graceful and resilient nature, which could be reflected in the characteristics associated with the surname Ryu.
Unique Korean Surnames
45. Mun
The last name in Korean Mun has various meanings depending on the hanja used to write it. Some of the meanings of this surname include “door,” “gate,” or “literature.”
46. Go
Depending upon the hanja this Korean surname Go has more meanings including “high,” “old,” or “ancient.”
47. Pyo
Pyo is a Korean surname with different meanings including “sign,” “token,” or “mark.” This is a surname which is mostly found in South Korea.
48. Eun
As a surname, Eun means “kindness”, “mercy”, “charity, “silver”, or “money”. Additionally, this is also a gender-neutral name from Korea which can be either the first or the second syllable of a two-syllable name.
49. Hyuk
The meaning of the surname Hyuk is “radiant”.
50. Choi
The surname Choi translates as “mountain,” “pinnacle” or “top.” This is sometimes spelled Choe or Chey.
51. Park
Park is believed to come from the Korean word bak, meaning
“gourd.”
52. Boo
The surname Boo originated from “Jeju Island”, where Seungkwan is from, and there are currently about 10,000 people with the last name in Korea.
53. Ahn
The Korean surname Ahn is derived from the Chinese character An, meaning “peace”.
54. Na
The surname Na refers to “a small state during the Zhou dynasty”.
55. Soh
Soh, also known as So is a “Korean family name and and an element in Korean given names.
56. Um
Um also spelled as Uhm, Eom, Ohm, or Om is a relatively unique surname in Korean surnames.
57. Chew
Chew is a variant of “Zhu” or “Chu” and is a toponymic last name. It is derived from the ancient state of Zhu and was also the family name of the emperors of the Ming dynasty.
58. Jiang
This is a Korean family name that originated from the Chinese word Jiang, which means “ginger”.
59. Shine
Shine is the Korean surname that represents “the region they were from” or “geographical attributes surrounding their homes”. This name is based on the Chinese and Korean point areas.
60. Myung
Another unique surname for Korea is Myung which is derived from the Chinese surname Ming meaning “bright” or “brilliance”.
61. Jon
Jon has multiple meanings as “field” or “plain” depending on the hanja used to write it.
62. Chee
Chee also spelled Jee, Ji, or Chi is a Korean family name, as well as a unique among the Korean given name. The meaning of this surname differs based on the Chinese characters, one meaning “wisdom” and the other meaning “pond”.
63. Baik
The Korean surname Baik can be spelled as Paek, Baek, or Paik. The meaning of this surname is “the color white”.
64. Heo
One of the unique Korean surnames Heo means “to permit” or “advocate”. It is derived from the Chinese character which carries the idea of granting permission or advocating for something.
65. Kwan
The surname Kwan has the meaning of “strong.” It is a Korean and Chinese surname with roots in both cultures.
66. Kye
The surname Kye has multiple meanings including “auspicious,” “smart,” or “skillful.”
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Rare Korean Surnames
67. Kwog
The character is actually “an old way of writing the Chinese word feng” and it is used as the surname feng in China. However, the ancient Chinese character is still used for the surname Kwog in Korea.
68. Jeup
This surname is considered a North Korean last name which originated from the Japanese colonial period. It was a surname used for Koreans “who married Japanese nationals”.
69. Chu
Chu can also be pronounced as Choo and it is indeed a Korean family name. It is said to have originated from the Chinese state of Zou, and it carries the meaning of “state of Zou” or “descendant of Zou.”
70. So Bong
The surname So Bong has the meaning of “gourd.” In Korean culture, the gourd is often associated with good luck, abundance, and protection.
71. Eo Geum
Eogeum is the surname originated from the two words Eo and Geum. Eo means “fish” and Geum means “money” or “gold.” There were 51 individuals with the surname Eogeum identified in Korea during a survey conducted by KOSTAT in 2000.
72. Jang Gok
This is also the rare Korean surname where Jang means “long” and Gok refers to “valley” or “gorge”.
73. Tan
Tan originated from the city of Haeju in the Hwanghae Province of North Korea and has the meaning “an exhibit” or “display”. It was first discovered in the 1930s. While the name Tan is widely known in China, it is not very common among Koreans.
74. Noe
In South Korea, the 2000 census found 80 people in 26 households with the surname Noe and this is regarded as the rare Korean surnames. The meaning of this is “thunder”.
75. Hwangbo
Hwangbo is a rare family name in Korea. As of 2000, there were just 9,148 people by this name in South Korea. The name Hwangbo originated “from the Chinese surname Huangfu meaning bright health.”
76. Mangjeol
Mangjeol is another Korean last name that you will rarely hear in Korea. It is a rare Korean last name that is said to have originated from Mangjeol Ilrang. Mangjeol Ilrang had a Korean mother and a Japanese father and was initially named Amikiri Ichiro.
77. Geun
As a family name, Geun is written with one hanja, meaning “axe”.
78. Taeyang
The meaning of the surname Taeyang in Korea is “sun”.
79. Seungkwan
The surname Seungkwan is derived from the merge of two words that is Seung meaning “victory/success” and Kwan meaning “generous, understanding”. Together, it means to be a “generous successor”.
80. Kwon
The meaning of the Korean last name Kwon is “authority”.
81. Joo
Joo is also spelled as Ju or Chu and is a Korean family name. The meaning of this surname is “Precious”.
82. Yeon
This surname is extremely rare in the present day with a few clans such as the Jeonju Yeon clan and the Jeongpyeong Yeon clan. The character means “barn swallow”. According to the 2015 census, 20 people had this surname.
83. Yon
As the surname Yon is of Korean origin with the meaning “lotus blossom”.
84. Jun
Jun is a rare Korean family name that has the meaning “talented”, “handsome”, and “ruler”.
85. Oh
Oh is a Korean surname that has the meaning “king”.
86. Sohn
The Korean surname Sohn means “to extend” or “to stretch”, symbolizing the expansion of one’s family or lineage.
87. Youn
Youn is sometimes transliterated as Yoon, Yune, or Yiun. The meaning of this surname is “governor”.
88. Chin
Chin is a surname that is derived from the word Chen which has the meaning “ancient”.
Royal Korean Surnames
89. Shim
Shim is a Korean last name, meaning “heart”. There are six Shim clans in Korea and they are located in Cheongsong, Pungsan, Samcheok, Buyu, Uiryeong, and Jeonju.
90. Ha
Ha is a Latin alphabet rendition of the Korean family name that has the meaning “Sunshine, Summer”. As of the South Korean census of 2000, there were 213,758 people by this name in South Korea or roughly 0.5% of the population.
91. Noh
The Korean surname Noh is derived from the Chinese character Luo and has multiple meanings. It can refer to “humble” or “lowly,” as well as “field” or “meadow”.
92. Namgoong
Namgoong is a surname which is originated from the combination of two words nam meaning “south” and gong meaning “palace, house”.
93. Chung
Chung has several meanings depending on the hanja used to write it. Some of the meanings include “quiet,” “upright,” or “loyal.”
94. Pak
In Korean, the word pak has two meanings “gourd” or “to shine brightly”. The surname Pak is said to represent either the gourd-shaped egg in which the youth was found or the light that is believed to have radiated from his head.
95. Min
The Korean surname Min has various meanings as “quick,” “clever,” or “civilian”.
96. Koo
The meaning of Korean surname Koo has various meanings including “ancient,” “old,” or “corner”.
97. Hong
Hong is the last name in Korea which translates as “wide” or “big”.
98. Yang
The Korean surname Yang means “positive,” “bright,” or “good.” It is a versatile surname with multiple interpretations.
99. Kang
The meaning of the surname Kang is “healthy”, “peaceful”, and “abundant”. In 2015, more than 1.1 million Koreans had this family name.
100. Baek
Baek is pronounced as Paek, Baik, or Paik and is a Korean family name meaning “the color white”. In the year 2000, there were 351,275 people with this surname in South Korea.
101. Lim
The surname Lim translates as “forest”, “woods”, or “trees”. There were roughly 823,000 lms in Korea in 2015.
102. Jang
Jang has various meanings depending on the hanja used to write it. The meanings include “chapter,” “long,” or “chief “.
103. Wang
The meaning of Wang is “vast”. There are various types of variant forms of the surname as Vang, Waung, and Wong.
104. Jin
Jin or Chin is the romanization of several Korean surnames. The meaning of this surname Jin is “truth”.
105. Bok
In the Revised Romanization, the spelling of the Korean surname Bok represents a meaningful connection to the concept of “divination”.
106. Ryoo
The Korean surname Ryoo means “willow tree” in Korean. It’s a beautiful and nature-inspired surname.
107. Yom
The surname Yom is more commonly found in South Korea. The meaning of this is “continuity” or “connection”.
108. Hyeon
The meaning of the surname Hyeon is “Worthy, Virtuous”.
109. Gwan
Gwan is a Korean surname that has the meaning “gold”.
110. Seok
The family name Seok can be written with either of two hanja, one meaning “stone”, and the other meaning “ancient”.
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