Posted on 10/13/2014 7:15:13 AM PDT by Citizen Zed
A SOUTH KOREAN saying claims that a stone thrown from the top of Mount Namsan, in the centre of the capital Seoul, is bound to hit a person with the surname Kim or Lee. One in every five South Koreans is a Kim—in a population of just over 50m. And from the current president, Park Geun-hye, to rapper PSY (born Park Jae-sang), almost one in ten is a Park. Taken together, these three surnames account for almost half of those in use in South Korea today. Neighbouring China has around 100 surnames in common usage; Japan may have as many as 280,000 distinct family names. Why is there so little diversity in Korean surnames?
Korea’s long feudal tradition offers part of the answer.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
Someone tell MacDonald to stand up straight!
Why is there so little diversity in Korean surnames?
I am of Dutch heritage and Napoleonic law was instituted in Europe (conquered nations) approx. 1820 requiring new names. This also made the govt the main record keeper, not the church. I can traced my name back to 5 clans who chose our name. A family could pick the name together or an individual could. Names could not be duplicated within the “county” level of govt. Some picked colorful names like “outhouse” “stuck in pants” thinking it would not last but then they were stuck with the name, you know how govt bureaucracy is.
or not...
I have a friend from China whose last name is Lee. He notes that “Lee,” spelled in various ways, is also found in Korea, Vietnam, England, Ireland, Norway and German-speaking countries.
Actual names are Gim, Ee, and Bak/Pak but Koreans are awesomely tolerant of westernized spellings and stuff.
Because it’s short and easy to spell.
Koreans actually differentiate between different Kim clans usually based on geography. This makes marriage law a bit complicated when two Kims want to be married.
other Korean surnames I like are Song and Moon
Nice pic
There was a book that came out a few years ago claiming that the Chinese reached North America in 1421. I saw the author interviewed on TV and he did not appear to be a raving maniac. I don’t think he used the Lee family of Virginia as evidence for the Chinese getting to North America.
One high school where I have substitute taught has a lot of Korean-Americans, and I have had classes where half the students were named Kim. At another school in the same district which has a lot of Gujaratis from India, I have taught classes where half or more of the students had the last name Patel.
And still no sighting of Kim Jong Un.
thank goodness those are different schools, what if they intermarry and we get a lot of Kim Patels? (Korean surnames go first)... :p
The surnames of the German Jews are a special case, as they were introduced later, in the late 18th to early 19th century, per fiat.[8] The Prussian authorities imposed made-up and sometimes derogatory names. For instance, the name “Waldlieferant” (lit.: forest supplier) was “created” to ridicule a Jewish timber trader. Even way more offensive espressions (”Afterduft”; lit.: anus odor) were in use. This is by no means the rule, though; on the contrary, those surnames most quickly recognized as probably Jewish in origin are distinctly poetical ones, probably as they were made-up choices by the people themselves (e.g. Rosenzweig). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_namee
Its an extended family.
"Chu," spelled various ways, is also a fairly common name in China. As evidence for his case, the author might also have cited Benjamin Chew, a politician and prominent jurist in colonial Pennsylvania.
Because it fits nicely into those little oval shirt patches...
Yeah, Lee is the worst, it is everywhere. Or maybe it’s the best.
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You often cannot tell a male name from a female name. Although if it as Eun-something or something-Hye it's probably a girls name.
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