Korean names?

Question

Is there a way to decipher gender in Korean names? For example, in English, female names are Jill, Sue, Sara, etc. Boy names are Bob, John, David, etc.

Answer 1

Sur names often come first in Korea. The Most common is Kim. So just reading the names may not help when determining gender.

Answer 2

Im not sure if your name has a meaning. But perhaps you can ask your mum. 헤미 isn't a popular name but at least you are unique :D I dont think you should worry about your name. Be glad your name isnt the same as someone else where people might mistake you for someone else haha.. Well I hope you find out :)

Answer 3

if kim is first it is a female name. Sun is male name.

Answer 4

chingchungkucha = guy name

Answer 5

Here is what I found...

What's in Korean Given Names?
It's fine and dandy whichever way we write our family names, if it stops there. But there is much more confusion in anglicized given names. A guy's name may be written as any of these combinations: Kim Young Sam, Kim Youngsam, Young-sam Kim, Young-Sam Kim, Youngsam Kim, Y-S. Kim, and Young S. Kim. It's darn confusing.

Besides the matter of the last-name-first convention, an important reason behind these variations is that most Koreans have two given names (syllables) which poses some dilemma when one tries to use one of these two as conventional middle name or middle initial.

Each syllable in a name has a literal meaning representing a particular Chinese character. In practice, however, these characters lose meaning when used in a name, notwithstanding onomasticians' claim. What's important is not the literal meaning of names, but how and why they are chosen. Invariably, one of these two given names is a true given name, while the other is a generational name.

To summarize, a typical (traditional) Korean name consists of a family name, a generational name, and a given name. Again, we see some deductive reasoning here. The family name is shared by blood relations both close and distant, past and present (going back hundreds of years). The generational names are shared by one generation: brothers, sisters and cousins. The given name is unique to each person.

For example, 'Soon' in my name is the generational name. All my brothers and cousins have 'Soon' as one of their names. 'Yong' on the other hand is my given name. My brothers and cousins have following given names in addition to 'Soon': Jung, Hyun, Gui, Ok, and Yul.

Given names are chosen according to parents or grandparents' wishes. But the generational names are already chosen and laid out for future generations. Its usage is not required legally, but each family's genealogical association keeps the tradition. (I'm afraid that this tradition is increasingly ignored.) Any name entered into their records will use these prescribed names. Therefore, it's common to find your name in your family's genealogical table spelled differently from your legal name. (Nevertheless, most families use generational names common to all offsprings, whether they are prescribed ones or not.)

Since there will be a lot of generations to come, it will not be wise to pick just any names. Also, there might be some favorite names a family would like to use, which also gives a certain similarity and bonding among future and past family members. The minimum set of generational names consists of five names. For my family, they are: Hien, Soon, Siek, Yong, Guy. In addition, each generation alternates the position of generational name such that it takes 10 generations to come up with a generation-confusing names. Using my family's name structure, an example of 10 generational naming might look like this using only one given name of Jin and prescribed set of generational names:

1: Choi Hien Jin
2: Choi Jin Soon
3: Choi Siek Jin
4: Choi Jin Yong
5: Choi Gui Jin
6: Choi Jin Hien
7: Choi Soon Jin - my generation
8: Choi Jin Siek
9: Choi Yong Jin
10: Choi Jin Gui
11: Choi Hien Jin


By the eleventh generation, the name repeats. But among 10 generations, one can tell what the generational relationships are among these ten individuals. If I meet one of my remote relatives, and he says his generational name is Yong on the first position, the chances are I'm his granduncle.

Well, it's all theory. The person might be 12 generations after me or 8 generations before me. And that's possible if you are 37th generation of your family given marriage patterns. Speaking of theory, the five generational names are chosen according to Taoist theory of life. According to this old theory, the world consists of five elements (metal, water, wood, fire, earth) that give life to each other. Metal (or iron) becomes water when melted. Water feeds into wood (tree). Wood burns giving all to earth (soil). And when earth hardens, it becomes metal, thereby completing the cycle of life. What better principle is there to name generations of family members?

It happens that each Chinese letter has an element (a portion of its picture). For example, Chinese letters for river, pond, creek, ocean, etc., all have 'water element' in them, logically enough. But also words that were derived from water such as pure, irrigate, filthy, saliva, swirl, bathe, etc., have water element. Thus, using my family example, 'Hien' is of metal element, 'Soon' is of water, 'Siek' is of wood, and so on. In particular 'Soon' means pure.

Since a generational name is not a middle name in American sense, and not exactly a given name either, Koreans are not sure how to anglicize their names. One who writes 'Youngsam' ignores the difference between 'Young' and 'Sam.' 'Young-sam' adds a slight distinction between two names by using a hyphen. By writing 'Young-Sam' one likes to emphasize the fact that they are of equal value and that both are first names. 'Young Sam' is the least compromised system when followed by last name, but prone to be interpreted as first and middle names. Some just use 'Young S.' to be practical, since Americans are familiar with this system. A nationalistic usage will be the last name followed by 'Young Sam' as in press releases. As in the case of Lee Kun Hee mentioned above, this person becomes Mr. Hee, and his middle name is Kun.


4. Women's Names
To any system run by humans, there are exceptions. As traditions are shunned away, the above looks too elaborate and sometimes restrictive. Furthermore, a new trend in naming is to use purely Korean words (similar to Celtic names vs. Latin names). Thus, traditional names are of lesser importance in the 1990s. Still, I'd guess two-third of Koreans follow some of these traditions.

In case of female names, tradition does not dictate clearly. Most families still use generational names, but there is no prescribed set of names. Since each Chinese character has some flavor or being strong or gentle, female generational names are usually different from male counterpart within a family. The stuffy guys at family genealogical associations who maintain family tree logs can't care less. When a woman is married, their husband's name is entered into the log. the woman's name is not. What a shame! But that's the legacy of Confucians.

But before you pass too harsh a judgment, consider a bright side of otherwise stuffy Confucianism. A person's last name cannot be changed, i.e. the familial tie cannot be broken or denied. Even when a woman marries, she does not change her last name, contrary to Western practice. Increasingly, American and English women use hyphenated last names, annoying the heck out of Mrs. Bucket of 'Keeping Up Appearances.' An alternative is not to change her last name, which Koreans have done so in the first place. Only surprise is that you find a certain Mrs. Kim is married to Mr. Choi, since we refer to a married woman by her own last name, not by the husband's.

A married Korean women in the U.S. thus has a dilemma: to change or not to change her last name according to American tradition. Among temporary residents (students), one practice is to use both her and her husband's last names. For example, a women named Hyun Sil Kim is married to a guy named Chul Soo Lee. She might be using the name Hyun Sil Kim Lee or Hyun Kim Lee, which annoys the heck out of me. I have seen some hyphernated last names also.


5. Relational Names: Teknonymy to the Extreme
It is well-known how important children are in Korean family. More than half of married couples will tell you that the only reason they are still married is for the sake of their children. Less well-known fact is that their names don't exist unless they produce a child. Once married, the husband is referred to as 'groom' and the wife as 'bride' until they have a child. Say they named the kid as 'Chul Soo.' The groom is now referred to as 'Chul Soo's father' and the bride as 'Chul Soo's mother' even between themselves.

Somehow Koreans avoid using proper names. I seldom use the names of most of my uncles and aunts. I might recall grandparents' names, but I can't be sure. Instead, Koreans have developed an elaborate system of relational names. 'Nuna' is an older sister used by a younger brother. 'Oppa' is an older brother used by a younger sister. 'Hyung' is an older brother used by a younger brother. 'Unni' is an older sister used by a younger sister. Four kinds of uncles (father's brother, mother's brother, father's sister's husband, mother's sister's husband) and aunts (father's sister, mother's sister, father's brother's wife, mother's brother's wife) all have different names. The list goes on endlessly. With this elaborate relational names, proper given names of relatives are not used often.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personally, I have three names, although Soon Yong is the legal name. Beside the name logged in the family tree book, which is Soon Kyung, most of my childhood was spent with a different name at home and at school. Many kids have nicknames used at home, but they know what their legal names are. I had no idea until the sixth grade. This is usually not possible because the official letter of school enrollment states the kid's legal name.

When I was ready, in my parents' opinion, to attend elementary school, my parents enrolled me under a nickname of Man Soon without official notice of enrollment. I was under the legal age for school (I was five and half years old, too early for first grade), but in my home village teachers were glad that any parents were sending their kids to school (most didn't). I was enrolled under the pseudonym. My graduation certificate for elementary school still says my name is not Soon Yong.

I first learned my legal name when I was in sixth grade. Even now, I feel my name belongs to someone else. I've lost my name in the process of acquaintanceship. Not all that bad, though. I think I took up a new personality with the new name. Whether good or bad, I can't say.