What Are the Most Popular Korean Baby Names?
According to statistics on birth registration released by the supreme court on Tuesday, last year’s most popular boys’ name was “Min-jun” (2,641 babies) followed by “Ji-hun,” “Hyun-woo,” “Jun-suh,” “Woo-jin,” “Gun-woo,” “Ye-jun,” and “Hyun-jun.” For girls, Seo-yeon (3,270 babies) was most popular, followed by “Min-suh,” “Ji-min,” “Seo-hyeon,” “Seo-yun,” “Ye-eun,” “Ha-eun,” and “Ji-eun.”
The statistics suggest that naming trends have changed over time. An official at Supreme Court said Young-soo and Sun-ja were the most popular names in 1948 and Young-soo and Young-suk were in 1958, because the Chinese character for “Young” means longevity. During this period, boy’s names such as “Young-ho,” “Young-sik,” and “Young-chul” continued to rank above fifth. In terms of women’s names, Japanese-style names, including “Young-ja,” “Jeong-ja,” and “Myung-ja,” or those with letters like “suk,” “sun,” “hee” including “Jeong-suk,” “Young-sun,” and “Young-hee” were widely used.
Names that clearly distinguish gender were popular in the 70s and 80s. As a new generation of parents sought modern names for their babies,”Dong-hyun,” and “Yu-jin” became popular and ranked top or second between 1998 and 2003. Since then, androgynous names have become popular, ranking “Min-jun” and “Seo-yeon” in first place in 2004 until last year.
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