The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to President
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_twitter_on_2022.svgbt_twitter_over_2022.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    14 injured as escalator reverses at Sunae Station in Bundang

  • 3

    JYP founder to work as guest commentator for NBA finals on Korean cable

  • 5

    Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes

  • 7

    Experts skeptical about effectiveness of S. Korea's UNSC seat to rein in NK

  • 9

    S. Korea wins seat on UN Security Council for 2024-25

  • 11

    Korea, Poland celebrate rollout of Warsaw's first FA-50

  • 13

    Yido bridges East, West via fusion cuisine in crafted ceramics

  • 15

    Ad or song?: Coca-Cola Zero ad featuring NewJeans becomes marketing blueprint

  • 17

    Apple's Vision Pro likely to accelerate Samsung's race in XR eyewear biz

  • 19

    INTERVIEWSpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul

  • 2

    RM to attend Seoul festival to mark BTS' 10th anniv.

  • 4

    BTS lifts veil on upcoming 10th anniversary event

  • 6

    Heart transplant recipients tie the knot

  • 8

    Seoul Queer Culture Festival venue moved to Euljiro

  • 10

    Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban

  • 12

    Samsung to unveil new foldable phones at Galaxy Unpacked in Seoul

  • 14

    Coupang, Baemin under pressure from radical labor groups

  • 16

    Rise in temperatures, solar radiation by 2100 inevitable: weather agency

  • 18

    Big events come in threes for Korean football

  • 20

    PHOTOSSubway escalator accident

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • Yun Byung-se
  • Kim Won-soo
  • Ahn Ho-young
  • Kim Sang-woo
  • Lee Kyung-hwa
  • Mitch Shin
  • Peter S. Kim
  • Daniel Shin
  • Jeon Su-mi
  • Jang Daul
  • Song Kyung-jin
  • Park Jung-won
  • Cho Hee-kyoung
  • Park Chong-hoon
  • Kim Sung-woo
  • Donald Kirk
  • John Burton
  • Robert D. Atkinson
  • Mark Peterson
  • Eugene Lee
  • Rushan Ziatdinov
  • Lee Jong-eun
  • Chyung Eun-ju and Joel Cho
  • Bernhard J. Seliger
  • Imran Khalid
  • Troy Stangarone
  • Jason Lim
  • Casey Lartigue, Jr.
  • Bernard Rowan
  • Steven L. Shields
  • Deauwand Myers
  • John J. Metzler
  • Andrew Hammond
  • Sandip Kumar Mishra
Fri, June 9, 2023 | 19:55
Mark Peterson
'Destroyed' surnames
Posted : 2019-07-28 17:56
Updated : 2019-07-28 21:24
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link

By Mark Peterson

As a contrast to the names that have survived in Korea for 1,500 years and more, there were names that did not survive. I've been writing about how remarkable, and even unusual, the Korean surname situation is ― specifically, the concentration of just a few surnames.

Five surnames ― Kim, Yi (Lee), Pak, Choe and Jeong (Chung, Jung) ― make up 55 percent of Korea's population. I have previously emphasized how unusual this is and how it is one of the solid evidences that Korean history has been marked by stability and peace.

However, there have been some exceptions. There are surnames that have not survived. But this fact does not contradict the thesis (that Korean history should be seen as remarkably peaceful, and should not be characterized as war-torn and unstable), but rather, the "destroyed" surnames illustrate the thesis.

I have offered before that the Kims of the Gaya Kingdom survived very well in the Silla Kingdom after the Silla took over Gaya. Kim Yu-sin, the great general of the unification of Silla who conquered Baekje and Goguryeo, was a grandson of the last Gaya general. Not only did he have an important position, second only to the king, his sister married the king! This is remarkable in light of the extremely hierarchical system of Silla, known as the "bone-rank system" (golpumje).

And moving forward, Silla is an ally of Later Goguryeo against Later Baekje. When Later Goguryeo wins the war, Silla, the ally is recruited to assist the new state, now called Goryeo, and much of the aristocracy of Silla move from Gyeongju to Gaeseong.

But what of the loser? Baekje was first defeated by Silla, and Later Baekje was defeated by the Silla-Later Goryeo alliance. What happened to the aristocracy of Baekje?

They disappeared from the Korean Peninsula. Some of the Baekje surnames appeared in either China or Japan, for we know that Baekje had active diplomatic relations with both neighboring countries.

We know eight names of Baekje aristocracy. They were Sa, Yeon, Hyeop, Hae, Jin, Guk, Mok, and Baek. None of these names exist in Korea today. If you are familiar with Korean names you might object to this statement, because there are people with some of these names, apparently, in modern Korea. But it turns out the Chinese character is different; therefore, there is a homophonic name today, but the same name does not exist.

It's possible that in some cases, the surname changed its character to a homophone and indeed it is the same Baekje group, but the chances of that happening are quite remote, for if someone wanted to change their name to hide in a hostile social setting, choosing a homophone doesn't serve their purpose.

As examples, the name Sa is quite rare today, but the character used today is the character for history, 史, whereas the characters from the Baekje period was the character for sand, 沙. Similarly, the characters for the names Yeon, Jin, Guk, Mok, and Baek ― names that exist in Korea ― are homophones. The characters used with those pronunciations today are different from the characters that were used in the Baekje Kingdom. And Hyeop and Hae do not exist in Korea today at all.

There was one other case of surname destruction by annihilating the aristocratic family that was in the leadership of a fallen dynasty. It was the slaughter of the Wang clan at the fall of the 918-1392 Goryeo Kingdom.

Wang was the surname of the clan that were descendants of Wang Geon, the founder of the dynasty. He gave his surname to some of his supporters. When Yi Seong-gye toppled Goryeo and established the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) he did so in basically one afternoon. Unlike other dynastic transitions in other countries that take years and decades to accomplish, the Goryeo-Joseon transition was relatively smooth and quick. But there was some blood-letting after Yi Seong-gye grabbed power and the target was mostly the Wang royal relatives.

There is some interesting genealogical folklore about this. It is said that many people with the surname Wang changed the Chinese character for their name (王) by adding a stroke or two or more to create a new name and hide their identity as relatives of the Goryeo royalty. They were Ok (玉), Jeon-1 (田), Jeon-2 (全), Gim (金) and possibly some others.

The intended extermination, however, was not complete, and as time went by, some segments of the Wang clan not only survived in the Joseon period, but they flourished. We have records of 10 individuals named Wang who passed the all-important high civil service exam in the Joseon period, and there are about 25,000 people with that name in Korea today.

But the important point to remember is that these cases of obliterating surname groups were the exceptions. The rule in Korea was that the aristocrats and aristocratic names of Silla continued onward into Goryeo and onward into the Joseon period. The exceptions highlight the rule.


Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.


 
wooribank
Top 10 Stories
1Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes Gov't to launch intensive crackdown against foreigners committing drug crimes
2Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban Dog meat traders condemn first lady, animal rights groups' push for ban
3[INTERVIEW] SpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul INTERVIEWSpaceX's Starlink in Kyiv is wake-up call for Seoul
4Billy Graham Seoul Crusade celebrates 50th anniversary Billy Graham Seoul Crusade celebrates 50th anniversary
5Dollar remittance, foreign exchange rules to be eased Dollar remittance, foreign exchange rules to be eased
6Home gardening boom inspires plant adoption, specialized care services for leafy companions Home gardening boom inspires plant adoption, specialized care services for leafy companions
7Yoon's labor reform drive sputters as umbrella union exits talks Yoon's labor reform drive sputters as umbrella union exits talks
8Korean businesses seek tougher punishments for industrial espionage Korean businesses seek tougher punishments for industrial espionage
9Yoon calls for all-out efforts to win chip war Yoon calls for all-out efforts to win chip war
10Bookstore specializing in film is haven for readers and seaside lovers alike Bookstore specializing in film is haven for readers and seaside lovers alike
Top 5 Entertainment News
1'Leaving Las Vegas' director Mike Figgis puts Korea in spotlight in new film 'Leaving Las Vegas' director Mike Figgis puts Korea in spotlight in new film
2Netflix's new original 'Bloodhounds' to deliver cathartic actionNetflix's new original 'Bloodhounds' to deliver cathartic action
3White Cube to open space in Seoul White Cube to open space in Seoul
4Music festival brings attention to DMZ Music festival brings attention to DMZ
5China's hallyu restrictions likely to continue unless Seoul-Beijing ties improve China's hallyu restrictions likely to continue unless Seoul-Beijing ties improve
DARKROOM
  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher : Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email : webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel : 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No : 서울,아52844
Date of registration : 2020.02.05
Masthead : The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group