Editing Korean name (section)

==Surnames==
{{see also|List of Korean surnames}}
{{Further|Korean clans|Korean clans of foreign origin}}
{| width="275" class="wikitable" style="float:right;clear:right;margin:0 0 1em 1em;"
|+ The five most common surnames<ref name="nso" />
|-
! bgcolor="#F0F0F0" | Korean !! bgcolor="#F0F0F0" | Hanja !! bgcolor="#F0F0F0" | [[Revised Romanization of Korean|Revised]] !! bgcolor="#F0F0F0" | [[McCune–Reischauer|MR]] !! bgcolor="#F0F0F0" | Common spellings
|-
| {{lang|ko|김}} || 金 || Gim || [[Kim (Korean name)|Kim]] || Kim, Gim
|-
| {{lang|ko|리}} ([[North Korea|N]])<br/>{{lang|ko|이}} ([[South Korea|S]]) || 李 || I || Ri (N)<br/>I (S) || [[Lee (Korean surname)|Lee]], Rhee, Yi
|-
| {{lang|ko|박}} || 朴 || Bak || Pak || [[Park (Korean surname)|Park]], Pak, Bak
|-
| {{lang|ko|최}} || 崔 || Choe || Ch'oe || [[Choi (Korean surname)|Choi]], Choe, Chue
|-
| {{lang|ko|정}} || 鄭 || Jeong || Chŏng || [[Jung (Korean surname)|Jung]], Chung, Jeong, Cheong
|}
Fewer than 300 (approximately 280)<ref name="HanCinema">{{cite web |last=Zwetsloot |first=Jacco |url=http://www.hancinema.net/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-korean-surnames-20507.html |title=Everything you ever wanted to know about Korean surnames |website=[[HanCinema]] |date=2009-08-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204194633/http://www.hancinema.net/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-korean-surnames-20507.html |archive-date=2014-12-04}}</ref> Korean surnames were in use in 2000, and the three most common ([[Kim (Korean surname)|Kim]], [[Lee (Korean surname)|Lee]], and [[Park (Korean surname)|Park]]) account for nearly half of the population. For various reasons,{{Clarify|date=March 2024|reason=what reasons}} the number of Korean surnames has been increasing over time.<ref name="HanCinema" /><ref name=USLC>U.S. [[Library of Congress]], [http://countrystudies.us/south-korea/38.htm Traditional Family Life.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103013030/http://countrystudies.us/south-korea/38.htm |date=2016-11-03}}</ref>

Each Korean person belongs to a [[Korean clans|Korean clan]]. Each clan can be identified by a surname from a [[Patrilineality|patrilineal]] ancestor and a place of origin ({{Korean|hangul=본관|rr=bongwan|labels=no}}). For example, the most populous clan is the [[Gimhae Kim clan]]: they descend from [[Suro of Geumgwan Gaya|Kim Suro]] and identify the city of [[Gimhae]] as their origin. Clan membership is determined. Clans are further subdivided into various {{Transliteration|ko|rr|pa}} ({{Korean|hangul=파|hanja=派|labels=no}}), or branches stemming from a more recent common ancestor, so that a full identification of a person's surname would be clan-surname-branch.{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} Until 2005, [[Article 809 of the Korean Civil Code|marrying other members of one's clan was illegal]], although this restriction was declared unconstitutional and lifted.<ref>''Same-Surname-Same-Origin Marriage Ban'' case (95Hun-Ka6 on Article 809 (1) of the Civil Act); {{Citation |title=The First Ten Years of the Korean Constitutional Court |page=242 (p.256 of the PDF) |url=http://www.ccourt.go.kr/home/english/download/decision_10years.pdf |url-status=dead |publisher=[[Constitutional Court of Korea]] |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219184747/http://www.ccourt.go.kr/home/english/download/decision_10years.pdf |archivedate=2012-02-19}}.</ref>

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 inherited from their parents and ancestors, and cannot be changed. According to traditions, each clan publishes a comprehensive [[genealogy book]] ({{Korean|hangul=족보|hanja=族譜|rr=jokbo|labels=no}}) every 30 years.{{sfnp|Nahm|1988|pp=33–34}}

Around a dozen two-syllable surnames are used, all of which rank after the 100 most common surnames. The five most common surnames, which together make up over half of the Korean population, are used by over 20 million people in South Korea.<ref name="nso">Republic of Korea. [http://kosis.nso.go.kr/cgi-bin/sws_999.cgi?ID=DT_1INOOSB&IDTYPE=3 National Statistical Office.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301110942/http://kosis.nso.go.kr/cgi-bin/sws_999.cgi?ID=DT_1INOOSB&IDTYPE=3 |date=2007-03-01}} 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 {{cite web|url=http://sun-bin.blogspot.com/2005/12/chinese-and-korean-family-names.html |title=Sun Bin: Chinese and Korean Family Names |access-date=2006-08-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160628044808/http://sun-bin.blogspot.com/2005/12/chinese-and-korean-family-names.html |archive-date=2016-06-28}}</ref>

After the 2015 census, it was revealed that foreign-origin surnames were becoming more common in South Korea, due to naturalised citizens transcribing their surnames in Hangul. Between 2000 and 2015, more than 4,800 new surnames were registered. During the census, a total of 5,582 distinct surnames were collected, 73% of which do not have corresponding Hanja characters. It was also revealed that despite the surge in the number of surnames, the ratio of top 10 surnames had not changed. 44.6% of South Koreans are still named Kim, Lee or Park, while the rest of the top 10 are made up of Choi, Jeong, Kang, Jo, Yoon, Jang and Lim.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kim|first=Da-sol|url=http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170109000755|title=Foreign-origin family names on rise in South Korea|date=2017-01-09|access-date=2017-01-10|newspaper=[[The Korea Herald]]|archive-date=2017-01-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109230053/http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20170109000755|url-status=live}}</ref>

Children traditionally (and still mostly) take their father's surname.{{sfnp|Nahm|1988}} However, under South Korean Civil Law effective January 1, 2008, children may be legally given the surname of either parent or even that of a step-parent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Park |first=Chung-a |date=2007-06-03 |title=Children Can Adopt Mothers Surname |url=https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2023/05/113_4064.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609223414/https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/113_4064.html |archive-date=2016-06-09 |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=[[The Korea Times]]}}</ref>