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A Korean name consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both North Korea and South Korea. In the Korean language, ''ireum'' or ''seong-myeong'' usually refers to the family name (''seong'') and given name (''ireum'' in a narrow sense) together. Traditional Korean names typically consist of only one syllable. There is no middle name in the English language sense. Many Koreans have their given names made of a generational name syllable and an individually distinct syllable, while this practice is declining in the younger generations. The generational name syllable is shared by siblings in North Korea, and by all members of the same generation of an extended family in South Korea. Married men and women usually keep their full personal names, and children inherit the father's family name. The family names are subdivided into ''bon-gwan'' (clans), i.e. extended families which originate in the lineage system used in previous historical periods. Each clan is identified by a specific place, and traces its origin to a common patrilineal ancestor. Early names based on the Korean language were recorded in the Three Kingdoms period (57 BCE – 668 CE), but with the growing adoption of the Chinese writing system, these were gradually replaced by names based on Chinese characters (hanja). During periods of Mongol influence, the ruling class supplemented their Korean names with Mongolian names. Because of the many changes in Korean romanization practices over the years, modern Koreans, when using languages written in Latin script, romanize their names in various ways, most often approximating the pronunciation in English orthography. Some keep the original order of names, while others reverse the names to match the usual Western pattern. == Family names == Fewer than 300 (approximately 280)〔The Korean Drama & Movies Database, (Everything you ever wanted to know about Korean surnames )〕 Korean family names are currently in use, and the three most common (Kim, Lee, and Park) account for nearly half of the population. For various reasons, there is a growth in the number of Korean surnames. 〔The Korean Drama & Movies Database, (Everything you ever wanted to know about Korean surnames )〕〔U.S. Library of Congress, (Traditional Family Life. )〕 Each family name is divided into one or more clans (''bon-gwan''), identifying the clan's city of origin. For example, the most populous clan is Gimhae Kim; that is, the Kim clan from the city of Gimhae. Clans are further subdivided into various ''pa'', or branches stemming from a more recent common ancestor, so that a full identification of a person's family name would be clan-surname-branch. For example, "Kyoungjoo Yissi" also romanized as "Kyoungjoo Leessi" (Kyoung-Joo Lee clan, or Lee clan of Kyoung-Joo) and "Yeonan-Yissi" (Lee clan of Yeonan) are, technically speaking, completely different surnames, even though both are, in most places, simply referred to as "Yi" or "Lee". This also means people from the same clan are considered to be of same blood, such that marriage of a man and a woman of same surname and ''bon-gwan'' is considered a strong taboo, regardless of how distant the actual lineages may be, even to the present day. Traditionally, Korean women keep their family names after their marriage, but their children take the father's surname. In the premodern, patriarchal Korean society, people were extremely conscious of familial values and their own family identities. Korean women keep their surnames after marriage based on traditional reasoning that it is what they inherited from their parents and ancestors, and cannot be changed. According to traditions, each clan publishes a comprehensive genealogy (''jokbo'') every 30 years.〔Nahm, pg.33–34.〕 Around a dozen two-syllable surnames are used, all of which rank after the 100 most common surnames. The five most common family names, which together make up over half of the Korean population, are used by over 20 million people in South Korea.〔Republic of Korea. (National Statistical Office. ) The total population was 45,985,289. No comparable statistics are available from North Korea. The top 22 surnames are charted, and a rough extrapolation for both Koreas has been calculated ().〕 ==Given names== Traditionally, given names are partly determined by generation names, a custom originating in China. One of the two characters in a given name is unique to the individual, while the other is shared by all people in a family generation. In both North and South Korea, generational names are no longer shared by cousins, but are still commonly shared by brothers and sisters.〔NKChosun.com〕 Given names are typically composed of ''hanja'', or Chinese characters. In North Korea, the ''hanja'' are no longer used to write the names, but the meanings are still understood; thus, for example, the syllable ''cheol'' (철, ) is used in boys' names and means "iron". In South Korea, section 37 of the Family Registry Law requires that the'' hanja'' in personal names be taken from a restricted list.〔South Korea, Family Register Law〕 Unapproved ''hanja'' must be represented by ''hangul'' in the family registry. In March 1991, the Supreme Court of South Korea published the Table of Hanja for Personal Name Use, which allowed a total of 2,854 ''hanja'' in new South Korean given names (as well as 61 alternative forms).〔(National Academy of the Korean Language (1991) )〕 The list was expanded in 1994, 1997, 2001, 2005, and 2007. Thus, 5,151 ''hanja'' are now permitted in South Korean names (including the set of basic ''hanja''), in addition to a small number of alternative forms. The use of an official list is similar to Japan's use of the ''jinmeiyō kanji'' (although the characters do not entirely coincide). While the traditional practice is still largely followed, since the late 1970s, some parents have given their children names that are native Korean words, usually of two syllables. Popular given names of this sort include Haneul (하늘; "Heaven" or "Sky"), Areum (아름; "Beauty"), Iseul (이슬; "Dew") and Seulgi (슬기; "Wisdom"). Despite this trend away from traditional practice, people's names are still recorded in both ''hangul'' and ''hanja'' (if available) on official documents, in family genealogies, and so on. Originally, there was no legal limitation on the length of names in South Korea. As a result, some people registered extremely long given names composed of native Korean words, such as the 16-syllable Haneulbyeollimgureumhaennimbodasarangseureouri (). However, beginning in 1993, new regulations required that the given name be five syllables or shorter. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Korean name」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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