Why Are Korean Surnames Usually Kim, Park, and Lee?

According to the 2015 census, about 20 percent of South Korea’s population of 49.3 million has the surname Kim. This is about 10 million people means. The second most common name is Lee, followed by Park/Pak in third place.

As a result, almost 45 percent of Koreans one of these three owner! Of course, it’s no coincidence that these surnames are so common.

King Wang Geon gave his loyal servants a single surname.

During Korea’s Joseon Dynasty from 1392 to 1910, it was not uncommon to find someone with a surname. Family names were a luxury and only to the Korean nobility belonged to.

Korean King Wang Geon, who founded the Goryeo Dynasty, token of grace He decided to allow some eminent people to take surnames.

In time, members of the merchant class would also take a surname.

Most of these outstanding people from distinguished families were coming, and they would take the civil service exam as a way to advance their lineage. Those who passed the exam would register a surname for themselves, and each surname was recorded in a genealogy book.

Finally the people He could also take the exam and get a surname. Affordable people often bought a genealogy book from a bankrupt elite family and adopted the name.

Every Korean is supposed to have a surname.

Also, with the abolition of the class system in 1894, people began to take surnames for social and economic privileges. When Japan invaded Korea, it was ordered that every Korean must have a surname. People, the upper class has He chose the names “Kim, Lee, Park”.

Marriage of persons with the same surname was prohibited.

In the late Joseon Dynasty, several surnames had become so popular among the people that no one knew who blood ties He couldn’t be sure it was. The king eventually outlawed the marriage of people with the same surname and descent.

In 1997, this law was repealed on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. However, in 2005, close kinship relations A law was passed to prevent people from marrying.

Royal surnames have been used by non-royal people for centuries.

Briefly; Surnames like Kim, Lee, and Park were once just royal were family names. Over the centuries, ordinary people quickly adopted these names as their own, and still do.