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Korean name question?

Blogs > MechKing
Post a Reply
MechKing
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States3004 Posts
June 21 2011 06:53 GMT
#1
I've been kinda confused about Korean names. Do they have two last names or something? Or a middle name? Let's take Nestea's name, Lim Jae Duk. Is Lim his first name and then Jae and Duk are his family names or something? I'm stupid lol

*
don_kyuhote
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
3007 Posts
June 21 2011 06:55 GMT
#2
Lim = last name
Jae Duk = first name
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
ShadowDrgn
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States2497 Posts
June 21 2011 06:56 GMT
#3
Last name, First name, "Middle name"
Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes, and learn what not to do, and that’s the end of you.
krndandaman
Profile Joined August 2009
Mozambique16569 Posts
June 21 2011 07:01 GMT
#4
--- Nuked ---
The_LiNk
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Canada863 Posts
June 21 2011 07:05 GMT
#5
Jaeduk is his given name. Jae and Duk are separate characters. First is always the family name followed by the given name. Most Asian cultures have 3 character names, though there are 2 character named (single character given names). I'm not sure if Koreans have single character names though.
krndandaman
Profile Joined August 2009
Mozambique16569 Posts
June 21 2011 07:18 GMT
#6
--- Nuked ---
IntoTheWow
Profile Blog Joined May 2004
is awesome32281 Posts
June 21 2011 07:19 GMT
#7
On June 21 2011 16:05 The_LiNk wrote:
Jaeduk is his given name. Jae and Duk are separate characters. First is always the family name followed by the given name. Most Asian cultures have 3 character names, though there are 2 character named (single character given names). I'm not sure if Koreans have single character names though.


They have. I have seen some in BW pros, but they are not common.

Example: Nal_rA : 강 민 Kang Min
Moderator<:3-/-<
LosingID8
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
CA10835 Posts
June 21 2011 07:20 GMT
#8
Korean names are family name first, given name second. The family name is usually one syllable but there are a couple rare 2-syllable last names like nam-goong. Korean given names are usually two syllables but it wouldn't be considered weird to have a 1 syllable given name. Koreans do not use middle names, although oftentimes Koreans living in other countries will use their Korean name as their middle name.
ModeratorResident K-POP Elitist
Funnytoss
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
Taiwan1471 Posts
June 21 2011 07:20 GMT
#9
On June 21 2011 16:19 IntoTheWow wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 21 2011 16:05 The_LiNk wrote:
Jaeduk is his given name. Jae and Duk are separate characters. First is always the family name followed by the given name. Most Asian cultures have 3 character names, though there are 2 character named (single character given names). I'm not sure if Koreans have single character names though.


They have. I have seen some in BW pros, but they are not common.

Example: Nal_rA : 강 민 Kang Min


Whew, I was about to post but I decided to refresh just in case since I figured someone would probably post Nal_rA before me.
AIV_Funnytoss and sGs.Funnytoss on iCCup
Disregard
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
China10252 Posts
June 21 2011 07:50 GMT
#10
Exactly the same with Chinese names. Take a random Chinese name like Zhao Ying Jun, the surname is Zhao while Ying Jun is the first name. But with Western customary they just assume Ying is the first name, however, within a family that part is very common.

If one were to get mail in the States, its confusing. D:
"If I had to take a drug in order to be free, I'm screwed. Freedom exists in the mind, otherwise it doesn't exist."
SnowFantasy
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
4173 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-21 08:14:54
June 21 2011 08:14 GMT
#11
On June 21 2011 16:19 IntoTheWow wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 21 2011 16:05 The_LiNk wrote:
Jaeduk is his given name. Jae and Duk are separate characters. First is always the family name followed by the given name. Most Asian cultures have 3 character names, though there are 2 character named (single character given names). I'm not sure if Koreans have single character names though.


They have. I have seen some in BW pros, but they are not common.

Example: Nal_rA : 강 민 Kang Min


I don't think he is talking about that. He means one syllable full names.

Instead of "강민" "강" or "민".
kaleidoscope
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Singapore2887 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-21 08:48:34
June 21 2011 08:40 GMT
#12
most of the koreans have their name system similar to the Chinese;
surname + 2 characters
and their surname is always hanja (aka able to be written in chinese characters)

there are some people with surname + 1 character,
and also increasing trend of people with 2 characters surname (there are, but very very very few)

edit: there are no middle name, if it's 2 characters (excluding surname), they belong to first name
대지따라 돌린게 시간이다.. 흘러가고 돌아오지도 않고..
Caphe
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Vietnam10817 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-21 08:55:25
June 21 2011 08:49 GMT
#13
Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese names are all the same with Family name/first name pattern. Its confused for Westerner but hey Westerners names are confused as hell for me :D

Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese names can all be written in Chinese characters. So the Chinese read Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese names in the tones of the Chinese characters.

For example, Park Ji Sung, a very famous football(soccer) player from SK is called Piao Zhi Xing in Chinese.

The first names in East Asia country usually mean something, some time very great things :D. We don't name ourself after our senior, its kind of forbidden to name your kid the same name as your farther lol.

In some Korean family, they actually have the same name for each generation O_O. I have 2 korean friends name Park Se Jun and Park Hyn Jun cos they are brothers, and their generation have to take the name Jun.
Terran
ShloobeR
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
Korea (South)3846 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-21 10:21:27
June 21 2011 10:16 GMT
#14
Korean names are split into 한자 (hanja) names and 한글 names.

한자 names are by far the most common and originate from chinese characters, typically with some deep meaning, Hanja names are usually a 1 symbol surname and a 2 symbol given name (but there are variations, given names can be 1 or more and family names can rarely be 2)

Since the variety of Hanja for your typical Hangeul name is so wide, people with identical names in Korean could have completely different names in Chinese. (at least meaning-wise)

한글 names are more of a new trend, most commonly used for Christian names. It's typically the younger generations you will see with this kind of name.

In writing order the family name always comes first.

There is actually a lot of tradition when it comes to naming, with specialist 'name creators' being paid quite a lot of money to create a specific and personal Hanja name for the child (often using their 사주), additionally as posters above mentioned, more traditional korean families will also have 'generational characters' which are characters shared generation per generation, usually alternating between the first and second characters. This can sometimes be a repeating cycle of characters going through many many generations, aditionally, women usually do not have this.

probably more than you asked for sorry : (
: o )
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