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Why So Many Koreans Have the Last Name “Kim”
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 most popular surname in the States only make up for 1%. This is quite unusual as a culture or a nation to have such great portion of the population concentrated on few surnames. Why is it that such few surnames exist in Korea?
Royal Names
Names like Kim, Lee, and Park have royal origins.
Kim has two roots; one being of the royal family of Silla dynasty (57BC — 935AD) and the other being of the royal family of Gaya confederacy (42AD-562AD). When the two countries merged, the family name of Kim became one of the most populous names. Park comes from the founder of Silla dynasty, Park Hyeokgeose who, according to the founding legend, was hatched out of an egg.
