Korean Names

[under construction]

To begin, please review the compiled Korean name resources here.  

Mini-Glossary

• 初名, 초명 - First Name

• 號, 호 - Pen Name

• 字, 자 - Courtesy Name

• 名, 명 - Given Name

• 諡號, 시호 - Posthumous Name

• 姓, 성 - Family Name/Surname

Clan Names 本貫 본관 Bong-wan

Korean clan names are regular surnames with a locative designator.  In this usage, the name is written like [bongwan][surname], and that specifies which clan of that surname the person is from.  Where the locatives needed to designate clans historically? Probably.  A name scholar I know suggested they might not have been needed historically, so I will research more.

Hanguk-eo  韓國語 and Hanja-eo 漢字語

• Hanguk-eo  한국어/韓國語: indigenous Korean readings of characters. This term is more broadly "the Korean Language"

• Hanja-eo 한자어/漢字語: the Sino-Korean readings of characters. Literally "Han (Chinese) characters language"

This is important to note that Korean also has two pronunciations for hanja like Japanese does for kanji, however the Korean pronunciations are overall used less than the Sino-Korean.  The commonality of having Korean pronunciations or words for names goes up when you go lower in social status, as well as women tend to have a higher chance of being named with "Korean-sounding" names.  This is compared to Noblemen almost all having names picked and pronounced using Sino-Korean words/pronunciations. 

Some fundamental information on hangul can be found here.

Nobles & Social Status Affecting Names

(Something something about Pen names over courtesy names used more.)

"According to Han, there were eight types of ho (호) that a scholar could choose. The penname could refer to a place of which they were fond, it could be the name of one of their belongings, it could represent a value that they pursued, it could represent a stage in their life, it could refer to an aspect of their appearance, it could echo the name of one of their respected role models, it could represent their occupation, or it could be a phrase from a classical text that they admire."

Kisaeng Names

They were considered owned by the government, so when they became a kisaeng (if they had a surname) they would be stripped of the surname.  Kisaeng would also sometimes get Pen Names, or at the least, artist names.