English Spelling of Korean Last Names
Thomas Alan Cho
: Here is the list of common English spelling of Korean last names that I
: can think of. I am sure I am missing other last names. Can you add
: more? Thanks.
: An
: Ahn
: Byun
: Chang
: Cho
: Choi
: Chung
: Han
: Hahn
: Hong
: Jang
: Jung
: Kang
: Kim
: Kong
: Lee
: Lim
: Moon
: Oh
: Park
: Rhee
: Rheem
: Rho
: So
: Soh
: Song
: Woo
: Yee
: --
: Peter Kim Motorola Cellular Subscriber Group
: PHONE: 847/523-3127 IL93, AS320
: FAX : 847/523-8534 600 North U.S. Highway 45
: EMAIL: pete...@csg.mot.com Libertyville, IL 60048
Hae Yoo-Suk
Oh Jae-Suk
Sing Ah-Song
Wok In-Park
Boom Yoo-Soon
Doo Yoo-Soon
Poo-Tang
Hang Ah-Jew
Yoo Dam-Bum
Chu Ahn-Dik
Na Ho-Mo
I think that finishes this post.
--
"...let them groan at my depravities, and blush for my misdeeds. But let
each one of them reveal his heart... with equal sincerity, and may any
man who dares say 'I was a better man than he.'"
from Confessions
by Jean Jacques Rousseau
Peter Kim
Goh with the flow
: Here is the list of common English spelling of Korean last names that I
You can add these: Goh, Ko, Koh (all the same last name in Korean)
---------------------------->Goh with the flow. Goh with Goh! ;)
akang
Bok
Kwon
Shin
Yi
Yu
Yoon
Peter Kim
Ahn
An
Bang
Bok
Boom
Byun
Chang
Cho
Choi
Chu
Chung
Doo
Goh
Hae
Hahn
Han
Hang
Hong
Jang
Joh
Jung
Kang
Kim
Ko
Koh
Kong
Kwon
Lee
Lim
Moon
Na
Oh
Park
Phang
Poo-Tang
Rhee
Rheem
Rho
Ryu
Shin
Sin
Sing
So
Soh
Song
Wok
Woo
Yee
Yi
Yoo
Yoon
Yu
Charles L. Martin
: So far I have the following Korean last names. Any more? Thanks.
Hello Peter,
Would you please explain the difference between the Korean names of Rhee,
and Lee. I assumed that these were the same names, only spelled differently.
If in fact I'm right, would you explain the Chinese character definition of
the name. i.e., kim (gold, money)?
Thank you,
Charles L. Martin
chlm...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu
Indiana University at Bloomington
http://silver.ucs.indiana.edu/~chlmarti
cc hh hh aaaa rrrrrrrrr ll eeeeeeee ssss
cc cc hh hh aa aa rr rr ll ee ss ss
cc cc hh hh aa aa rr rr ll ee ss ss
cc hh hh aa aa rr rr ll ee ss
cc hhhhhhhhh aaaaaaaa rrrrrrrrr ll ee ss
cc hh hh aa aa rr rr ll eeeeee ss
cc hh hh aa aa rr rr ll ee ss
cc cc hh hh aa aa rr rr ll ee ss ss
cc cc hh hh aa aa rr rr ll ee ss ss
cc hh hh aa aa rr rr llllllll eeeeeeee ssss
Lost, is it, buried? One more missing piece?
But nothing's lost. Or else: all is translation
And every bit of us is lost in it...
--James Merrill
Yong H. Lee
: Peter Kim (pet...@jdc.csg.mot.com) wrote:
: : So far I have the following Korean last names. Any more? Thanks.
: Hello Peter,
: Would you please explain the difference between the Korean names of Rhee,
: and Lee. I assumed that these were the same names, only spelled differently.
the two names are indeed the same. some people even use 'yi' to refer
to the exact name. 'yi' is more often used in korea since they put
the last name first and there's some pronunciation rule that says
'lee' changes to 'yi' if it's the first sound of the word...
the pronunciation in chinese character for the name is more like 'lee'
or 'rhee'. it's really hard to tell which is correct since there's no
'l' or 'r' sound in korean. it's somewhere in between 'l' and 'r'.
: If in fact I'm right, would you explain the Chinese character definition of
: the name. i.e., kim (gold, money)?
lee is |
---
/|\
--
/
---
\
--
or something like that... the meaning of the character currently
escapes me but i remember it being something non important...
-y
Young S. BAIK aka WALKMAN
pet...@jdc.csg.mot.com (Peter Kim) wrote:
>So far I have the following Korean last names. Any more? Thanks.
##############################################################################
# Young S. BAIK aka WALKMAN http://mansci1.uwaterloo.ca/~ysbaik #
# M.A.Sc. Student #
# #
# CPH 4328 TEL:(519)885-1211 ext.3820 #
# Department of Management Sciences ysb...@mansci.watstar.uwaterloo.ca #
# University of WATERLOO ysb...@cyberkorea.com #
##############################################################################
kevin giansante
I've seen "Park" as Pak and Bark.
Just as a point of interest, these are not "English" spellings. They're
from the Reischauer-McCune (my spelling is probably not right) system of
transliteration, which is endorsed by the Korean government. The reason
I mention this is because, as pointed out in the Yi-Rhee-Lee post, the
spellings are fantastically unfaithful to actual pronunciation. Some of
them, like "Choi", are way off. I find that learning the Korean glyphs
is far easier than trying to pronunce the Latinized versions as
they would be pronounced in the American English phonetic system.
kevin giansante
True?
kevin giansante
Yong H. Lee
: I'd guess that Baik is the same as Park, Pak, and Bark.
nope... baik is totally different last name...
-y
Yong H. Lee
sunwoo
-y
2 HoT 2 HaNdL'
: In article <1996Feb20....@schbbs.mot.com>,
: pet...@jdc.csg.mot.com (Peter Kim) wrote:
: >So far I have the following Korean last names. Any more? Thanks.
: well what about BAIK
Also
Paik,
Sonu (rare)
Yi
Yu
--
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| so...@rpi.edu / \ ()| O |
| _|_ . _|_|_ |
| O |_ O |
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| URL: http://www.rpi.edu/~songi |
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| - Nietzsche |
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2 HoT 2 HaNdL'
Sohn
Ma
Yun
Susan Soo Yeon Hong
which is the same in Korean as the common
spelling of Park.
Stephen Yum
(Goh with the flow) wrote:
Yum! According to my Jokbo, we've been in Korea for over 600 years. And
still, I get some uneducated Koreans asking me whether my last name is
Korean.
My cousin's surname is Yang. Um's are there too... as well as Pyo, Hwang,
Ko, Cha, Huh.
Don't forget about the two-syllable last names like: Sunoo, Hwangbo, et al.
By the way, I think "Rheem" is a North Korean version of "Yim", no? In
North Korea, they would write my last name as Ryum.
Jae Hyuk Lee
Peter Kim <pet...@jdc.csg.mot.com> wrote:
>Here is the list of common English spelling of Korean last names that I
>can think of. I am sure I am missing other last names. Can you add
>more? Thanks.
It looks like this thread will go on, with a lot of "Hey, what about
[...]?" messages. :) I happened to have a copy of HanInRok (Korean
directory for greater New York, 1987), and looked in the index,
which I reproduce below. Some of the spellings are quite funny. :)
Judging from the number of pages, 24% of people had the family name Kim
or its variations, and 16% had the family name Lee or its variations.
There were several people with the same full name as I -- I guess I'm
just a face in the crowd. ;)
*** Korean family names in Korean alphabetical order ***
Kan
Karl, Kal
Kam, Gham
Kang, Gang
Kyun
Keyoung, Kyung
Keh, Kye, Gae, Kei, Kay, Keay, Kae, Ke, Key
Ko, Koh, Kou, Goh
Kon
Kong, Ghong
Kwak, Kwag, Koak, Kwark, Guak, Gack
Koo, Ku, Ko, Goo
Kook, Kuk
Koong
Kwon, Gwon, Kwun, Keon
Kum, Kumm, Keum
Ki, Gi
Kill, Keel, Kiel
Kim, Keem, Gim, Gemm, Gimn, Khim
Na, Rah, Ra, La, Lah, Lar
Nam, Nahm
Namkoong, Namgoong, Namgung, Namkung
Ro, Roh, No, Row, Rhough, Noh, Rowe, Roh, Lo, Rhau, Roe, Loh
Tang, Dang
Do, Doh, Dow
Dokko, Doko, Kokko, Dokgo
Dong, Tong
Ra, Rha, Rah
Ro, Rho, Loo, Roh, Roe, No
Lyu, Ru, Rhew, You, Yu, Yoo, Ryu, Rhyu, Lew, Rhy, Liu, Ry, Rye
Lee, Rhiee
Rhim, Rimm, Lim, Rheem
Ma, Marh, Mar
Maing, Mang
Myung, Myong, Myoung
Mok, Mog
Mun, Moon, Muhn
Min, Minn
Park, Pak, Bak, Pak, Bhak, Bag, Back, Bark, Bahk
Ban, Bahn
Bang
Bae, Pai, Bea, Bay, Pae, Bai
Paik, Baek, Pak, Back, Beak, Paek, Pack, Baik
Bum
Byun, Byeon, Pyun, Byon, Puon, Pyon, Pyune, Byean
Bok, Pok
Bong
Boo
Bin
Sa
Sang
Suh, Seo, So, Surh, Seu, Shur, Soh, Ser, Su, She, Suhr
Suk, Seuk, Suck, Seok, Seog, Sug, Suc
Son, Sun
Sunwoo, Sunoo, sunu
Sul, Seul, Sull, Seol, Shul, Soung
Sung, Song, Seong, Seung
So, Soh
Sohn, Son, Sun, Shon, Sone, Sohnn
Song, Sung
Seung
Shin, Sin, Synn, Syn, Shinn, Chin, Shyn, Cyin, Sheen
Shim, Sim, Sym, Symm, Shim, Sheem
Ahn, An
Yang, Young
Aw, Awh, Ur, Auh, Uh, Oh, Eo, Ah
Ohm, Um, Uhm, Om, Oum, Yhm, Yem, Eum, Youm, Uhme
Yo, Yeo, Lio, Ryu, Yuh, Yoie, Yeu
Yeon, Yun, Yuon, Yin, Yen, Yon, Yeoun, Yern, Youn
Yom, Yeom, Rhum, Yeam, Yum, Yeum, Youm
Yae, Ye, Yai, Yae, Ae
O, Oh, Auh, Owe, Owh
Ok, Ock, Og, Ocg
On
Wang, Wong, Whang
Yong
Woo, Wu, Yu, Oh, Yoo, U, Uh, Wook, Wooh
Won, Wohn
Wee, We, Wie, Ewi, Whee
Yu, Yoo, Liu, Lew, Ryoo, Rhew, Woo, Rhyu, Ryu, Lieu, Ruo, Yew, Riu
Yuk, Yook, Youk
Yun, Yoon, Youn, Yeon
Un, Eun
Um, Eum, Yum
Lee, Yi, Rhee, Le, Ri, Li, Rhei, Ree
In, Ihn
Lim, Yim, Im, Rim, Rhim, Limb, Leem, Lem
Jaing, Chang, Jang, Chaing, Jhang
Jun, Jwon, Jon, Chun, Cheon, John, Juhn, Jhun, Jeon
Chung, Chong, Cheong, Jeoung, Jung, Cheung, Jeoung, Jhung
Je, Jae, Che, Joe
Jo, Chough, Cho, Joe, Joh, Choh, Choe
Choung, Chong, Jong
Chu, Chou, Jhu, Joo, Choo, Chu, Ju, Zew
Chi, Chee, Ji, Jee, Gi, Yee, Jhee, Ghee
Chin, Jin, Jeon, Jhin, Jen
Cha, Ca
Chai, Chae, Chay, Choe
Chon, Chun, Tchon, Cheun
Choy, Choi, Choe, Chey, Chai, Chae, Chwe, Chuey, Chew
Chu, Choo, Chyu
Tak, Tark, Tag
Tag, Tak, Thag, Thak
Ti
Phang, Pang
Pyun
Pyo
Pi
Peal, Pil, Phil, Phill
Ha, Hah, Haar, Har
Hahn, Han, Hearn, Hann
Ham, Hahm
Huh, Hur, Ho, Heu, Hou, Haw, Heo, Hu, Hoh, Herh, Her, Hough
Hyun, Hyon, Hion
Hyung
Ho, Hoh, Hough
Hong
Whang, Hwang, Whong
Whang-bo, Hwang-bo
--
o _ Jae H. Lee | |
(\_|_) jae...@wpi.edu \ | _` | -_) | -_) -_)
T> Mac Worcester Polytech. \__/\__,_|\___| ____|\___|\___|
S.S. Kim
sound like Park. There is no "r" sound. And there are Americans with
names Park, thus sending mixed signals regarding your ancestry.
I understand there are other versions like, Pak, Bak, etc. but if you wanna
phonetically preserve your Korean name, why not make it Bahg, Baak or Bog?
As opposed to Baik or Baek for the other, similarly sounding name.
The same with Lee. Their Chinese equivalents are pronounced Li and Lee but
the Korean version is Yee, Eee or Yi. Lee is closer to Yee but why Rhee?
How is Yee similar to Rhee? Or Noh similar to Roh? Or Yim to Lim? Or Oh
to Roh?
Yet another common Korean surname, Choi, is problematic. How did they come
up with it? It gets pronounced Cho-Ee; most people don't bother and just
accept that pronunciation. Yes, this is a hard one to translate but Chay
is still closer than Choi.
C. A. Rohn
>Here is the list of common English spelling of Korean last names that I
>can think of. I am sure I am missing other last names. Can you add
>more? Thanks.
>Oh
A variant of this is "O". This particular romanization is extremely
cruel to computers (yay!). For example, when an Air Force friend of
mine married a Korean who romanized his surname this way, the Air
Force had to completely reprogram their personnel databases to
accomodate one-letter surnames. It also caused problems with a state
department of motor vehicles. She tells me she still has problems in
this regard, virtually every time she gets a credit card or ID.
C. A. :-)
Marysville, CA
C. A. Rohn
>kevin giansante (kay...@vision.postech.ac.kr) wrote:
>: I'd guess that Baik is the same as Park, Pak, and Bark.
>nope... baik is totally different last name...
I had a Korean teacher who spelled it "Paik." His brother is a
Monterey, CA county judge (or was in '88)
C. A. Rohn
>Here is the list of common English spelling of Korean last names that I
>can think of. I am sure I am missing other last names. Can you add
>more? Thanks.
>An
>Ahn
>Byun
>Chang
>Cho
>Choi
I've seen one instance of this spelled Choe, in the US.
>Chung
also Chong, again in the US.
>Han
>Hahn
>Hong
>Jang
>Jung
>Kang
>Kim
>Kong
>Lee
>Lim
also Im, this time in Korea.
>Moon
>Oh
also O
>Park
also Pak
>Rhee
>Rheem
>Rho
also Roh, Noh and No
>So
>Soh
>Song
>Woo
also Wu
>Yee
Yu is quite common as well.
I've seen these on ROK Army/Air Force nametags:
Shin
Kwan
Kwon
Ha (pronounced Haw)
Min
Yang
Sohn
Kwak
Om
Ko
Wang
Other Koreans I've known have had these surnames:
Tak (My favorite Korean teacher at Yonsei)
Kook (I'm NOT making this one up! A Korean teacher in Monterey used
this to romanize her name. No, the Hanja is not the same as "nation.")
Daniel Paik
>>kevin giansante (kay...@vision.postech.ac.kr) wrote:
>>: I'd guess that Baik is the same as Park, Pak, and Bark.
>>nope... baik is totally different last name...
correct. paik (baek, paek, baik) has the chinese character for white.
park is a different character.
>
>The same with Lee. Their Chinese equivalents are pronounced Li and Lee but
>the Korean version is Yee, Eee or Yi. Lee is closer to Yee but why Rhee?
>How is Yee similar to Rhee? Or Noh similar to Roh? Or Yim to Lim? Or Oh
>to Roh?
none of these really sounds like the way they do in korean. e.g. Noh
in engilsh has a long "oh" part prnounced like "dough" but the last
name in korea is short. you're never going to get it totally right so
just make it acceptable where people can pronounce it okay. is "Eee"
really necessary?
>Yet another common Korean surname, Choi, is problematic. How did they come
>up with it? It gets pronounced Cho-Ee; most people don't bother and just
>accept that pronunciation. Yes, this is a hard one to translate but Chay
>is still closer than Choi.
i believe this is to differentiate between the names in korean. chay
is usually used for the "ch" character with the "ae" (looks like the
english "H") character. if you look at the characters in korean that
make up choi and break it down, you have "cho" + "eeeee" sound to get
"choi."
Dan.
---------------------------------------------
Seoul International School '91
UC Berkeley '96
Lambda Phi Epsilon - Delta Chapter Eta Class
PC World Communications
Technical Systems Administrator
http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~uctt
Uhyon Chung
of Kor.. by Daniel Pa...@po.eecs.berk
>
> >>kevin giansante (kay...@vision.postech.ac.kr) wrote:
> >>: I'd guess that Baik is the same as Park, Pak, and Bark.
> >>nope... baik is totally different last name...
>
> correct. paik (baek, paek, baik) has the chinese character for white.
> park is a different character.
>
> >
> >The same with Lee. Their Chinese equivalents are pronounced Li and Lee but
> >the Korean version is Yee, Eee or Yi. Lee is closer to Yee but why Rhee?
> >How is Yee similar to Rhee? Or Noh similar to Roh? Or Yim to Lim? Or Oh
> >to Roh?
>
> none of these really sounds like the way they do in korean. e.g. Noh
> in engilsh has a long "oh" part prnounced like "dough" but the last
> name in korea is short. you're never going to get it totally right so
> just make it acceptable where people can pronounce it okay. is "Eee"
> really necessary?
>
> >Yet another common Korean surname, Choi, is problematic. How did they come
> >up with it? It gets pronounced Cho-Ee; most people don't bother and just
> >accept that pronunciation. Yes, this is a hard one to translate but Chay
> >is still closer than Choi.
>
> i believe this is to differentiate between the names in korean. chay
> is usually used for the "ch" character with the "ae" (looks like the
> english "H") character. if you look at the characters in korean that
> make up choi and break it down, you have "cho" + "eeeee" sound to get
> "choi."
The basic problem you have is the English transcription system. It has
certain limiting factors when you want to write Korean in it. Therefore
what people seems to have done is to set a standard on what certain
sounds should map in English, even though it may not sound alike. For
example, why do they use Kim, instead of Gim? The g-consonant is most
certainly voiced and in this case, it would certain be pronounced with
the 'g'(and not a dz, as in judge, because it's the first syllable). Who
thought of Park/Pak? Why not Bak? Why Lee? Or even worse, Rhee? I don't
hear a liquid there... It could be Yee, except that if you put the 'y',
the 'e' would become a diphthong. Why not just Ee? Why Chung? What's
wrong with Jung? What does the American system all devoices those
initial consonants?
Judy Rhee
Paik
Pack
Chong
Jung
Jo
Joe
Ko
Koh
Pyun
Le
Oh
kevin giansante
>The basic problem you have is the English transcription system. It has
>certain limiting factors when you want to write Korean in it. Therefore
<snip>
>wrong with Jung? What does the American system all devoices those
>initial consonants?
Yes, there are differences between Korean and American English phonetics
that would limit the accuracy of ANY system of transcription, but
the International Phonetic Alphabet would come a lot closer than the
Reischauer-McCune system, which is presently in use and is endorsed as
"standard" by the R.O.K. government.
It is not an American system. American phonologists can do a whole lot
better than that.
I wonder if one of the sources of error in the R-M system is that Korean
names are pronounced differently in different dialects but are sometimes
transcribed as totally different names rather than as variants.
S.S. Kim
>kevin giansante (kay...@vision.postech.ac.kr) wrote:
>: I'd guess that Baik is the same as Park, Pak, and Bark.
>nope... baik is totally different last name...
sound like Park. There is no "r" sound. And there are Americans with
names Park, thus sending mixed signals regarding your ancestry.
I understand there are other versions like, Pak, Bak, etc. but if you wanna
phonetically preserve your Korean name, why not make it Bahg, Baak or Bog?
As opposed to Baik or Baek for the other, similarly sounding name.
the Korean version is Yee, Eee or Yi. Lee is closer to Yee but why Rhee?
How is Yee similar to Rhee? Or Noh similar to Roh? Or Yim to Lim? Or Oh
to Roh?
Tim O'Brien
>What's the deal with Park. First of all, the name doesn't even remotely
>sound like Park. There is no "r" sound. And there are Americans with
>names Park, thus sending mixed signals regarding your ancestry.
"Park" is following Boston pronunciation (of the Hahvahd Yahd
variety), and is an attempt to avoid having the word rhyme with Yak.
>
>The same with Lee. Their Chinese equivalents are pronounced Li and Lee but
>the Korean version is Yee, Eee or Yi. Lee is closer to Yee but why Rhee?
>How is Yee similar to Rhee? Or Noh similar to Roh? Or Yim to Lim? Or Oh
>to Roh?
The original names "Yee/Lee/Rhee" and "No/Lho/Rho[etc]" in Chinese
have an initial "L" sound, which in Korean either drops off completely
(Yee) or is changed to a "N" (No). Lee is the Sinophilic and Rhee the
Japanophilic spelling (and pronunciation) of the character which the
Koreans peonounce "ee". I think the problem is that there is no
effective way to represent that sound in Latin letters (Yi being
likely to be mispronounced.
>
>Yet another common Korean surname, Choi, is problematic. How did they come
>up with it? It gets pronounced Cho-Ee; most people don't bother and just
>accept that pronunciation. Yes, this is a hard one to translate but Chay
>is still closer than Choi.
I once worked on a deal with a Korean company that had the following
personnel, all with the same family name:
Mr. Choi
Pres. Choe
Dr. Chai (this is the worst ever)
Chairman Chey
The other side found it impossible to believe that these were all the
same name.
"Chey" is absolutely perfect if the goal is to get an English speaker
to pronounce the name correctly. I've never seen "Chay", but that
would be very good as well. Unfortunately most Chey's are saddled
with CHOI!
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