Korean Surnames 한국의 성씨

Why are there so many Kims?

A Korean family is identified by its surname and its clan seat, 본관 (bongwan) — the town the clan traces itself to. So Kim is not one family but hundreds. The biggest, the Gimhae Kim (김해 김씨), had about 4.46 million members in 2015 — roughly one South Korean in eleven. The Miryang Park (밀양 박씨, about 3.1 million) and the Jeonju Lee (전주 이씨, about 2.6 million, the clan of the Joseon kings) come next.

History did the rest. When the 1909 civil registration law (민적법) required everyone to be listed with a surname, people who had none — including servants and others of low status — took their former master’s surname or chose one themselves, and the prestigious Kim, Lee and Park were the favourites.

Same sound, different family

Official records write surnames in Chinese characters as well, and one Hangul name can stand for more than one character: 정 is 鄭 (2,151,879 people) and 丁 (243,803), 조 is 趙 and 曺, 강 is 姜 and 康, and 유 is 柳, 劉 and 兪. Statistics Korea ranks each character separately, which is why its own list puts Choi (崔) fourth and Jeong (鄭) fifth. Counted by sound — the way you hear and spell them in English — Jeong is fourth with 2,407,601 people against 2,340,582 Chois, and Jo (1,453,971) moves up to sixth. By Statistics Korea’s count the ten most common surnames cover 63.9% of the population.

Lee or Yi? Park or Bak?

Korea’s official romanization (2000) would write 이 as “I”, 박 as “Bak” and 최 as “Choe”, but the rules leave surnames to be “set separately” — and no official list has ever been adopted. Families kept the spellings they already used. When the National Institute of Korean Language analysed about 63,000 passports in 2007, these were the most common choices:

Between the 1999 and 2007 counts the official spellings gained ground: Jeong rose from 21.8% to 37% of 정 passports, Jo from 10.7% to 25.6% of 조 and Yun from 25% to 40.6% of 윤. 안 is written An or Ahn.

Ryu, Ra and Ri

Standard South Korean avoids an r at the start of a word: it becomes n, or disappears before i and y. So 李 is 이 (Lee), 柳 is 유 (Yoo) and 羅 is 나 (Na). Some families keep the original sound instead — in 2015, 163,994 people were 류 (Ryu), 25,974 were 라 (Ra) and 240 were 리 (Ri). North Korea does not drop the sound, which is why North Korean names are written Ri and Ryu.

Surnames with two syllables

A handful of surnames have two syllables, so 남궁민 is surname 남궁 + given name 민 — not 남 + 궁민.

How Korean names work

• Surname first. 김민준 is Kim Min-jun: surname 김, given name 민준. Most given names have two syllables, written with a hyphen (Min-jun) or as one word (Minjun).
• Women keep their surname when they marry.
• Children take the father’s surname unless the parents agreed, when they registered their marriage, to use the mother’s (Civil Act, Article 781). A bill introduced in the National Assembly in 2026 would let parents also choose when they register the birth.
• New surnames keep appearing. The 2015 census counted 5,582 surnames, and 4,075 of them have no Chinese characters — most belong to naturalised citizens who kept the sound of their own family name, such as 팜 (Pham) and 쩐 (Tran).
• Calling someone by name is less common than you might think — Koreans use titles instead. See how to address people in Korea.

Questions

What is the most common surname in Korea?

Kim (김). In the 2015 census, the latest count of surnames, 10,689,967 South Koreans were Kims — 21.5% of the population. Lee (14.7%) and Park (8.4%) come next.

Why do so many Koreans have the same surname?

A Korean family is defined by its surname and its clan seat (본관), so millions of Kims belong to hundreds of different families — the largest, the Gimhae Kim, had about 4.46 million members in 2015. History played a part too: when the 1909 civil registration law made everyone register a surname, people who had none often took their former master’s surname or a prestigious one such as Kim, Lee or Park.

Are Lee, Yi and Rhee the same surname?

Yes. They are all 이 (李). Lee is used on about 98.5% of passports (2007); Yi, Rhee and the official romanization I are much rarer, and North Koreans write Ri.

How many surnames are there in Korea?

The 2015 census counted 5,582 surnames. Only 1,507 have Chinese characters; the other 4,075 belong mostly to naturalised citizens who kept the sound of their own family name.

Do Korean women change their surname when they marry?

No. Korean women keep their own surname after marriage. Children take the father’s surname unless the parents agreed, when registering the marriage, to use the mother’s.

Sources

• Statistics Korea (KOSIS) — Population by surname and clan (5 or more people), 2015 Population and Housing Census
• Asia Economy — 2015 census: the most common surnames are Kim, Lee and Park (7 Sep 2016)
• YTN — 5,582 surnames, 4,075 without Chinese characters (15 Sep 2016)
• Seoul Shinmun — new surnames of naturalised citizens (6 Jan 2017)
• Seoul Shinmun — “Kim, Lee, Park, Jeong”: counting surnames by Hangul (3 Oct 2025)
• National Institute of Korean Language — forum on romanizing surnames, with the 1999 and 2007 passport data (2009, PDF)
• Hankook Ilbo — the proposed surname spellings and passport usage (25 Jun 2009)
• Segye Ilbo — surnames after the 1909 civil registration law (29 Mar 2011)
• Maeil Shinmun — the 1909 civil registration law and surnames (6 Oct 2023)
• Civil Act, Article 781 (child’s surname)
• The Korea Times — bill to let parents choose the mother’s surname at birth registration (6 Sep 2026)
• Wikipedia — List of Korean surnames (2015 census figures by Hangul)

Last checked October 24, 2026. The 2015 census is the latest official count of surnames; Statistics Korea counts them every 15 years.