What's In a Name?

When I was here in Korea 10 years ago, people were not always nice to me.  I am not sure if it is because I was adopted or if it was becasue I don't look full Korean, or maybe it was because I didn't speak Korean.  Either way, people were rude.  (People have been really nice on this trip though.)

Becuase of that previous experience, I was a little nervous to approach this guy who was helping out at the English Teacher Orientation in August after I found out we share the same last name.

On the last night, he was coming back at the same time I was and I decided to take my chance to tell him that we have the same last name, Kwak.  In a country where everyone shares only about 250 Korean last names, I thought it would be difficult to figure out any familyline by last name.  However, since the three most common (Kim, Lee, and Park) account for nearly half of the population, I only have 50% to go.  That guy from Teacher Training told me the name Kwak is actually rare, only making up less than 1% of the population.  (Check this link out for more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Korean_family_names)

A few days ago, I found the list of email addresses that was handed out at the training and I decided to ask him about Kwak and he replied with this message:

There are 2 root of Kwak family, which are Hyeon poong Kwak and Cheong ju Kwak. They are seperated by the area where their primary viliage was located long time ago.

And the roots are classified with different unit 'gong pa'.

i.e My root is Hyeon poong and XXX gong pa, I'm not sure what my gongpa is, and there must be many gongpa in the category of Hyeonpoong Kwak.

Then, tonight, as I was giving my family address to my Language Exchange Buddy, I saw it.  On my own personal Family Register, it says that I am a "Hyonpung" Kwak, just like that guy from the teacher training!

Maybe I am getting closer and closer...


Just as an aside:
 
My first name is Yong and while I was looking up Korean last names, I found this:
 
 


Yong
The name Yong is a baby girl name. The name Yong comes from the Korean origin. The meaning of the name Yong is: Courage.

Similar Names:

Hong ( Chinese )
Rong ( Chinese )
Rong ( Chinese )
Yong ( Korean )
Yong ( Korean )

POSTED COMMENT: uhm im korean so yong means dragon too you know?
 
Awesome: I am a courageous dragon!