Korean surnames

[Mad]

I would like to know how the passing of family names works in Korea.
I know that married women keep their own family name, but which name do their children take on?

[parousia]

Korean women traditionally keep their family name at marriage, but children take their father's name. This adheres to the East Asian naming systems common to the cultures of East Asia which have been heavily influenced by China. However, there is small but notable trend in South Korea where both men and women, mostly young, prefer to be called by double surnames (one from each parent) or give their children double surnames. This may be attributed to a growing feminist influence in contemporary Korean society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_name

[Mad]

Thanks a lot, parousia!

[勺园之鬼]

Korean women traditionally keep their family name at marriage, but children take their father's name. This adheres to the East Asian naming systems common to the cultures of East Asia which have been heavily influenced by China. However, there is small but notable trend in South Korea where both men and women, mostly young, prefer to be called by double surnames (one from each parent) or give their children double surnames. This may be attributed to a growing feminist influence in contemporary Korean society.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_name

Thanks parousia. I am wondering though, as it says the naming system was heavily influenced by China, it Korean children can also be given their mother's surname instead of their father's, or both? This is possible in China, even if this is not as widespread as taking the father's name. Double surnames also exist in China. Is that the same in Korea?

[parousia]

... Is that the same in Korea?

Sorry, I don't know. But I'll ask around and I'll let you know what I find out.

[parousia]

I asked some natives, and they told me that they have never heard of a case where the children took the mother's name as their last name.

[勺园之鬼]

I asked some natives, and they told me that they have never heard of a case where the children took the mother's name as their last name.

Ah, you went as far as bothering natives... Merci beaucoup pour ta réponse !

[Karavinka]

A few feminists take double surnames in Korea. One from father and the other from mother.

[Mad]

Thanks to everyone for all the information. That helped explain alot to me!

[ed]

I am wondering though, as it says the naming system was heavily influenced by China, it Korean children can also be given their mother's surname instead of their father's, or both? This is possible in China, even if this is not as widespread as taking the father's name. Double surnames also exist in China. Is that the same in Korea?

i don't think its true. in china the only people who can have double surnames would be the women. women retain their surnames but in front of their surname they have to add the surname of their husband. children always use their father's surname. this is the practice of the Han nationality. the majority of chinese are from the Han nationality. maybe what you mean is there are people in china who have 2 character surnames when most surnames are only 1 character. but these 2 characters are taken as 1 surname. it's not a combination of 2 surnames.

[勺园之鬼]

I am wondering though, as it says the naming system was heavily influenced by China, it Korean children can also be given their mother's surname instead of their father's, or both? This is possible in China, even if this is not as widespread as taking the father's name. Double surnames also exist in China. Is that the same in Korea?

i don't think its true. in china the only people who can have double surnames would be the women. women retain their surnames but in front of their surname they have to add the surname of their husband. children always use their father's surname. this is the practice of the Han nationality. the majority of chinese are from the Han nationality. maybe what you mean is there are people in china who have 2 character surnames when most surnames are only 1 character. but these 2 characters are taken as 1 surname. it's not a combination of 2 surnames.

No, definitely not. I am talking about Han Chinese, for whom it has been a recent trend to give two surnames to their children, for instance the father's surname is 赵, the mother's surname is 孙 (respectively 趙 and 孫 if you can't read simplified Chinese) and they name their child 赵孙XX ("XX" being the given name). I am not talking about surnames like 司马, 欧阳 or a few other two characters long surnames (there are also surnames which are more than two characters long).
This trend is nonetheless nothing very common, this is something only some upper classes have been doing, and not for very long. It is virtually unknown even in many remote provinces of China, so this is not surprising that even ethnic Chinese in the Philippines have not heard about it.

I am sorry this is getting really off topic, but I had to make my point clear to ed. And when I think about it, speakers of Korean who have a knowledge of Hanja will know what I am talking about and might think it is interesting...

[cweb255]

Heh, this tradition is even being carried over to America, where she wants to keep her surname as well. I suppose the children will take my surname...