The new Ambassador of the United States to the Philippines, Mr. Sung Y. Kim, recently arrived in the country. As is well known, he is a Korean-American and was also the US Ambassador to Korea. Coincidentally, his family name Kim happens to be the same as mine.
Since I arrived in the Philippines last year, I have had several experiences where my name was misspoken or miswritten. I can imagine that the presence of two Ambassador Kims in this country – one from Korea, the other from the US – may cause some confusion in the diplomatic community in the Philippines.
The Korean naming system is very different from that of the Philippines or the Western style, so I would like to explain the peculiarities of Korean names.
Family name first, followed by given name
In Korea, the family name comes first. We don’t have any concept of a first or second or middle name, only a given name. So my full name is Kim Jae-Shin – Kim is my family name, Jae-Shin is my given name. But we have to be careful because using the Korean style could lead to mistakes. For example, name tags meant for me at some events would say Ambassador Shin or I would be called Ambassador Shin or Jae. Furthermore, the Korean family name Kim is also used as a given name in the Western tradition, giving more chances for misunderstandings. That’s why when some Koreans introduce themselves in English, they follow the Western style by putting the family name at the end in order to avoid confusion. In this case, my name becomes Jae-Shin Kim.
Monosyllabic family name, disyllabic given name
In contrast to many Western names, Korean family names are shorter and easier to remember. The Korean family name commonly has one syllable and the given name has two syllables. Some Koreans may have a two-syllable family name and a given name of one or more than three syllables, but these are very unusual cases.
Another important thing is that disyllabic given names should not be treated as separate names. To avoid this, I use a hyphen between the syllables, like Jae-Shin. Or some Koreans make this disyllabic name into one word in English, like Jaeshin.
Only several dozen family names are used by more than 90 percent of the entire Korean population
I heard that in the Philippines, one is likely to encounter a Filipino with a family name of Santos, Reyes, or Cruz. Similarly in Korea, Kim, Lee, and Park are the most common family names, in that order. According to government statistics, 21.5 percent of the total population is named Kim. Along with Lee (14.9 percent) and Park (8.6 percent), they comprise 45 percent of all Koreans. That means one in every five Koreans is named Kim, and almost half of Koreans are either named Kim or Lee or Park. Of the 11 presidents in the history of the Republic of Korea, there have been two President Kims, two President Lees, and two President Parks. There is even a Korean joke that if someone threw a small stone from Namsan (noted for the tourist attraction N Seoul Tower), it may hit the head of anyone named Kim,Lee, or Park.
The ten largest family names – Kim, Lee, Park, Choi, Chung, Kang, Cho, Yun, Chang, and Lim – share 63.9 percent of the total population.
Koreans who share the same family name can be divided into different clans. In the case of Kim, there are about 35 clans who come from all over the Korean peninsula. There is no way to distinguish one clan from another except by asking their origins.
Many Koreans have the same full name
As mentioned above, a huge percentage of the Korean population already share the most common family names. And because given names are only two syllables long, the possible distinct combinations of syllables for names are quite limited. So we can easily find Koreans with the same name in schools, companies, government organizations,etc. Although mine is not a very common Korean name, when I checked the phonebook, I was surprised to still find more than a dozen people named Kim Jae Shin.
In order to identify those who have the same names and avoid confusion, schools, companies and organizations add numbers after the names, like Kim Jae Shin(1), Kim Jae Shin(2), Kim Jae Shin(3), and so forth. I find the need to do this very amusing.
Married women keep their maiden name
The most distinctive thing between the naming systems of Korea and other countries is that Korean women retain their maiden names after marriage. This is a very unique practice as it only exists in Korea and China, as far as I know. Even in Japan, Korea’s nearest neighbor, women adopt their husband’s family name after they get married.
It could sometimes lead to awkward situations. When my wife – her family name is Lee – and I try to book a hotel room, I feel the need to do some explaining to avoid any “unnecessary suspicion.”
I hope this explanation sheds light on the Korean naming system and gives you a glimpse of an integral part of Korean culture. May this enrich your interactions with the many Koreans here in the Philippines.
Masaganang Bagong Taon po sa inyong lahat!
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(Kim Jae-Shin is the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Philippines.)