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Kim (Korean name)
Encyclopedia
Kim, sometimes spelled Gim, is the most common family name
in Korea
. The name is common in both modern-day North Korea
and South Korea
. The hanja
used for the name (金) means "gold
," and although the character is usually pronounced 금 kɯm geum, it is pronounced 김 kim gim when used for the family name and names of some cities, e.g., Gimhae
(김해, 金海) and Gimpo (김포, 金浦). The surname is also used in China
(as Jin
) alongside Cambodia
, Vietnam
, although it is less common.
As with most other Korean family names, there are many Kim clans, known in Korean as bon-gwan
(본관, 本貫), each of which consists of individual Kim families. Most Kims belong to one of a few very large clans. Even within each clan, people in different families are not related to each other. These distinctions are important, since Korean law used to prohibit intermarriage in the same clan, no matter how remote the relationship; now, however, only those in a relationship of second cousins or closer are prohibited from marrying.
As with other Korean family names, the Kim clans are distinguished by the place from which they claim to originate. A very large number of distinct Kim clans exist, besides those listed here. The 2000 South Korean census listed 348 extant Kim lineages.
, who later became a Monk.
Some research states that the Old Kims are descended from the Great Huns
: north Asian people, including Mongols
, Turks
and Koreans
. Linguist say that old Koreans are derived from the Hun which called "Xiongnu
" by the Chinese.
, in 48
CE, Princess Heo Hwang-ok
travelled from a country called "Ayuda" to Korea, where she married King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya and gave birth to 10 children, thus starting the Kim dynasty of Geumgwan Gaya
, the capital of which was in present-day Goryeong County
. The country of Ayuda is often identified with Ayodhya in India
.
Famous ancient members of this clan, aside from the kings of Geumgwan Gaya, include the Silla
general Kim Yu-shin. In the Unified Silla
period, members of the Gimhae Kim family were admitted to all but the highest level of the Silla bone rank system
.
This clan is by far the most populous of all Korean clans. The 2000 South Korean census found it to contain more than four million people.
Kims trace their descent from the ruling family of Silla
. The founder of this clan is said to have been Kim Alji
, an orphan adopted by King Talhae of Silla
in the first century CE. Alji's seventh-generation descendant was the first member of the clan to take the throne, as King Michu of Silla
in the year 262.
This clan is also extremely populous. In the South Korean census of 2000, more than 1.7 million citizens claimed to be Gyeongju Kims.
state of Goryeong Gaya
. His alleged tomb, rediscovered in the 16th century, is still preserved by the modern-day members of the clan. This clan numbered only 26,300 members in the 2000 South Korean census.
Korean name
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 and given name together...
in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
. The name is common in both modern-day North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. The hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...
used for the name (金) means "gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
," and although the character is usually pronounced 금 kɯm geum, it is pronounced 김 kim gim when used for the family name and names of some cities, e.g., Gimhae
Gimhae
Gimhae, also commonly spelled Kimhae, is a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. Gimhae is known to locals as "The Paris of Gyeongsangnamdo." It is the seat of the large Gimhae Kim clan, one of the largest Kim clans in Korea...
(김해, 金海) and Gimpo (김포, 金浦). The surname is also used in China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
(as Jin
Jin (surname)
Jin is a Chinese family name. It literally means "gold" and is No. 29 of the Hundred Family Surnames. The surname is also used in Vietnam and Korea, where it is romanized as Kim and in Hong Kong, in Cantonese, Kam...
) alongside Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, although it is less common.
Clans
Bon-gwan
Bon-gwan is the concept of clan in Korea, which is used to distinguish clans that happen to share a same family name . Since Korea has been traditionally a Buddhist country this clan system is cognate with Gotra in Sanskrit texts and shares most features...
(본관, 本貫), each of which consists of individual Kim families. Most Kims belong to one of a few very large clans. Even within each clan, people in different families are not related to each other. These distinctions are important, since Korean law used to prohibit intermarriage in the same clan, no matter how remote the relationship; now, however, only those in a relationship of second cousins or closer are prohibited from marrying.
As with other Korean family names, the Kim clans are distinguished by the place from which they claim to originate. A very large number of distinct Kim clans exist, besides those listed here. The 2000 South Korean census listed 348 extant Kim lineages.
Uiseong
The Uiseong (의성) Kim Clan traces its lineage back to the last prince of SillaSilla
Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...
, who later became a Monk.
Some research states that the Old Kims are descended from the Great Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
: north Asian people, including Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
, Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
and Koreans
Korean people
The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...
. Linguist say that old Koreans are derived from the Hun which called "Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
" by the Chinese.
Gimhae (Kimhae)
According to a story recorded only in the Samguk YusaSamguk Yusa
Samguk Yusa, or Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms, is a collection of legends, folktales, and historical accounts relating to the Three Kingdoms of Korea , as well as to other periods and states before, during, and after the Three Kingdoms period.The text was written in Classical Chinese, which was...
, in 48
48
Year 48 was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vitellius and Poplicola...
CE, Princess Heo Hwang-ok
Heo Hwang-ok
Heo Hwang-ok was a princess who travelled from the ancient kingdom of Ayodhya to Korea. Information about her comes almost entirely from a few short passages in the Samguk Yusa, an 11th-century Korean chronicle. According to that chronicle, she arrived on a boat and married King Suro of Gaya in...
travelled from a country called "Ayuda" to Korea, where she married King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya and gave birth to 10 children, thus starting the Kim dynasty of Geumgwan Gaya
Geumgwan Gaya
Geumgwan Gaya , also known as Bon-Gaya or Garakguk , was the ruling city-state of the Gaya confederacy during the Three Kingdoms Period in Korea. It is believed to have been located around the modern-day city of Gimhae, Southern Gyeongsang province, near the mouth of the Nakdong River...
, the capital of which was in present-day Goryeong County
Goryeong County
Goryeong County is a county in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.Goryeong is a historical center of the ancient kingdom of Daegaya.-External links:*...
. The country of Ayuda is often identified with Ayodhya in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Famous ancient members of this clan, aside from the kings of Geumgwan Gaya, include the Silla
Silla
Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...
general Kim Yu-shin. In the Unified Silla
Unified Silla
Unified Silla or Later Silla is the name often applied to the Korean kingdom of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, when it conquered Baekje in 660 and Goguryeo in 668, unifying the southern portion of the Korean peninsula...
period, members of the Gimhae Kim family were admitted to all but the highest level of the Silla bone rank system
Bone rank system
The bone rank system was the system of aristocratic rank used in the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla. It was used to segregate society, and particularly the layers of the aristocracy, on the basis of their hereditary proximity to the throne and the level of authority they were permitted to wield...
.
This clan is by far the most populous of all Korean clans. The 2000 South Korean census found it to contain more than four million people.
Gyeongju
The GyeongjuGyeongju
Gyeongju is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, covering with a population of 269,343 people according to the 2008 census. Gyeongju is southeast of Seoul, and east of the...
Kims trace their descent from the ruling family of Silla
Silla
Silla was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, and one of the longest sustained dynasties in...
. The founder of this clan is said to have been Kim Alji
Kim Alji
Kim Alji was a historical figure in Korean history. His descendents formed the Kim royal clan of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea....
, an orphan adopted by King Talhae of Silla
Talhae of Silla
Talhae of Silla was the fourth king of Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. He is commonly called Talhae Isageum or Seok Talhae, isageum being the royal title in early Silla.-Background:...
in the first century CE. Alji's seventh-generation descendant was the first member of the clan to take the throne, as King Michu of Silla
Michu of Silla
Michu of Silla was the thirteenth ruler of the Korean state of Silla . He was the first king of the Kim clan to sit on the Silla throne; this clan would hold the throne for most of Silla's later history...
in the year 262.
This clan is also extremely populous. In the South Korean census of 2000, more than 1.7 million citizens claimed to be Gyeongju Kims.
Nagan
This clan is extremely rare. In the South Korean census of 2000, less than 10,000 citizens claimed to be Nagan Kims.Hamchang
The Hamchang Kims trace their origin to the founder of the little-known GayaGaya confederacy
Gaya was a confederacy of territorial polities in the Nakdong River basin of southern Korea, growing out of the Byeonhan confederacy of the Samhan period.The traditional period used by historians for Gaya chronology is 42–532 CE...
state of Goryeong Gaya
Goryeong Gaya
Goryeong Gaya was one of the lesser chiefdoms of the Gaya confederacy during the Korean Three Kingdoms period. It was centered in present-day Sangju City, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea...
. His alleged tomb, rediscovered in the 16th century, is still preserved by the modern-day members of the clan. This clan numbered only 26,300 members in the 2000 South Korean census.
See also
- Korean culture
- Korean nameKorean nameA 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 and given name together...
- List of Korea-related topics
- List of Korean family names
- JinJin (surname)Jin is a Chinese family name. It literally means "gold" and is No. 29 of the Hundred Family Surnames. The surname is also used in Vietnam and Korea, where it is romanized as Kim and in Hong Kong, in Cantonese, Kam...
, the equivalent Chinese surnameChinese surnameChinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...