Oh (surname)

This article is about the Korean surname. For other uses, see O (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Ou (surname) or Ō (Japanese surname).
Oh
Hangul
오
Hanja
吳 五 伍 吾 晤
Revised RomanizationO
McCune–ReischauerO

Oh or O is a family name in Korea. It is written using the hanja characters, 吳, 五, 伍, 吾, and 晤. According to the 2015 census in South Korea, there were 763,281 people carrying the O surname.[1]

History

The earliest ancestor of the Korean Oh family is believed to be Oh Eung (Korean: 오응; Hanja: 吳應) from Silla, the son of Oh Cheom known to be the Chinese royal descendant who migrated from China to Korea and married the daughter of Kim Jong-ji in Silla.[2]

16 clans have historically emerged under the family name Oh. The largest five clans, in order, are Haeju, Dongbok, Boseong, Hamyang, and Gunwi Oh clans. Out of these clans, the three largest clans were founded by the three brothers of Oh Hyeon-bo, Oh Hyeon-jwa, and Oh Hyun-pil, who each was given the governor position of Haeju, Dongbok, and Boseong counties as the rewards for defending Goryeo against the attack by the Khitan people.[3]

Each of the five biggest clans traces its founder back to:

In the modern era, the O (or Oh) family of North Korea is a North Korean family whose members have been considered close to the ruling Kim family over several generations because of O Jung-hup, who was a revolutionary fighter closely associated with Kim Il-sung. They are regarded as being highly influential in the North Korean regime and second only to the Kim's.[8]

Global distribution

Most Koreans in the US prefer the surname Oh rather than O as a single letter name can often be misunderstood as an abbreviation or misprinting.[9]

List of people with the surname

See also

References

  1. ^ "2015년 인구주택총조사 전수집계결과 보도자료" [Results of the 2015 Census of Population and Housing Survey]. Korean Statistical Information Service. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b "해주 오씨". The Digital Local Culture Encyclopedia of Korea by the Academy of Korean Studies.
  3. ^ "오씨". Doosan Encyclopedia.
  4. ^ "동북 오씨". The Digital Local Culture Encyclopedia of Korea by the Academy of Korean Studies.
  5. ^ "보성 오씨". The Digital Local Culture Encyclopedia of Korea by the Academy of Korean Studies.
  6. ^ "함양 오씨". The Digital Local Culture Encyclopedia of Korea by the Academy of Korean Studies.
  7. ^ "군위 오씨". The Digital Local Culture Encyclopedia of Korea by the Academy of Korean Studies.
  8. ^ Choi, Song Min. "Thae Yong Ho's defection in the context of the O family legacy". www.dailynk.com. Retrieved 2016-08-21.
  9. ^ "Why, O Why, Doesn't That Name Compute?". The New York Times. 1991-08-28. Retrieved 2014-02-27.