Why So Many Koreans Have the Last Name “Kim”

The history behind the most popular last name in Korea

Daniel C.

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Photo by pan zhen on Unsplash

If you are a Korean like myself, chances are your surname is one of Kim (김), Lee (이), Park (박), or Choi (최). In fact, the top 4 most popular last names in South Korea made up for almost half (49.3) of the entire population in 2015; the most popular being Kim with 21.5%. In contrast, Smith, the…

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