Seon, also spelled Sun, is an uncommon

Korean family name This is a list of Korean surnames, in Hangul alphabetical order. Note: (S) denotes South Korea. (N) denotes North Korea. The most common Korean family name (particularly in South Korea) is Kim, followed by Lee and Park. These three family nam ...

, as well as an element in Korean given names. Its meaning differs based on the

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

used to write it.

Family name

As a family name, Seon may be written with either of two hanja, one meaning "to announce" () and the other meaning "first" (). Each has one ''

bon-gwan Bon-gwan (or Bongwan) is the concept of clan in Korea, which is used to distinguish clans that happen to share the same family name (clan name). Since Korea has been traditionally a Confucian country, this clan system is similar to ancient Chine ...

'': for the former, Boseong,

Jeollanam-do South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

, and for the latter, Jinseong,

Jinju Jinju () is a city in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It was the location of the first (1592) and second (1593) Sieges of Jinju by Japanese forces during the Imjin War. The Republic of Korea Air Force Education and Training Command i ...

Gyeongsangnam-do South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...

, both in what is today

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The 2000 South Korean census found 38,849 people with these family names. In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 60.7% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as Sun in their passports, while another 39.2% spelled it as Seon. People with this family name include: *

Sun Dong-yeol Sun Dong-yol (; or ; born January 10, 1963) is a South Korean retired baseball pitcher and former manager. He was a pitcher in the KBO League and Nippon Professional Baseball, and the former manager of the Samsung Lions and the Kia Tigers ...

(born 1963), South Korean baseball player *

Sun Mi-sook Sun Mi-sook (born 19 March 1968) is a South Korean volleyball player. She competed in the women's tournament at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known ...

(born 1968), South Korean volleyball player * Sun So-eun (born 1988), South Korean swimmer *Sun Yein (born 1996), stage name Sunyoul, South Korean singer, member of UP10TION * Sun Mu, 20th-century Korean painter * Sun Mi (born 1992), South Korean singer. Changed her name to Lee Sun-mi

Given name

There are 41 hanja with the reading "seon" on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be registered for use in given names; they are listed in the table at right. People with the single-syllable name Seon include: * Seon of Balhae (fl. 818–830), 10th King of Balhae * Kim Seon (fl. 10th century), minor lord of the early Goryeo Dynasty *

Jeong Seon Jeong Seon ( ko, 정선) (1676 – 20 April 1759) was a Korean landscape painter, also known by the pen name Kyomjae. His ''cha'' was Wonbaek and another ''ho'' was Nangok. His works include ink and oriental water paintings, such as ''Inwangjes ...

(1676–1759), Joseon Dynasty landscape painter * Sunwoo Sun (born Jung Yoo-jin, 1975), South Korean actress * Chloe Kim (Korean name Kim Seon, born 2000), American snowboarder of Korean descent Given names containing this element include: ;First syllable * Sun-hee * Sun-hwa * Sun-mi * Seon-ok * Sun-woo * Sun-young ;Second syllable * Ha-sun * Hee-sun * Jin-sun *

Kwang-seon Kwang-seon, also spelled Kwang-sun, is a Korean masculine given name. The meaning differs based on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name. There are 13 hanja with the reading " kwang" and 41 hanja with the reading "seon" on the South K ...

* Kyung-sun * Mi-sun *

Min-sun Min-sun is a Korean unisex given name. Its meaning differs based on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name. There are 27 hanja with the reading " min" and 41 hanja with the reading "seon" on the South Korean government's official lis ...

Nam-seon Nam-seon, also spelled Nam-sun, is a Korean unisex given name. Its meaning depends on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name. There are five hanja with the reading "nam" and 41 hanja with the reading "Seon (Korean name), seon" on the So ...

References

{{given name Korean-language surnames Korean given names

Family name

Given name

See also

References