Talking about Korean culture: Names

In Korea, the Family name comes ‘성(first)’ and is followed by ‘이름(the given name)’.

There are various family names in Korea, such as: 김(Kim), 이(Lee), 박(Pak), 최(Choi), 정(Jung), etc… Commonly, when babies are born they take the father’s surname, but recently, even if it’s still only a small number, there are some cases in which the children take the mother’s family name. However, when women get married they keep their own surnames, instead of changing them to that of their husband’s.

Given names are usually made up of two syllables, which have corresponding Chinese characters. However, in the last few decades parents have begun to give their children names in Korean, that are easy to pronounce and have nice meanings, such as : ‘봄(Spring)’, or ‘기쁨(Joy)’, ‘사랑(Love)’, or even ‘이슬(Dew)’.

When referring to someone else, Koreans don’t just call them by their surnames, like 김 씨, 이 씨 or 박 씨. Rather, they say the person’s full name, for example: 김민수 씨 or 이수미 씨, etc… In the case that the two people have a close relationship, they can call each other simply by using their given names, for example: 성수 씨 and 수미 씨.

What about in your country? When babies are born whose surname do they inherit? Also, when a woman marries, does she keep her family name or does she change it? If there are unusual or interesting facts regarding names and surnames in your country, let us know about them!