Jeong-ja

Jeong-ja, also spelled Jung-ja, Jong-ja, or Chung-ja, is a Korean feminine given name. The meaning differs based on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name.

Jeong-ja
Hangul
정자
Hanja
貞子, 正子, and others
Revised RomanizationJeong-ja
McCune–ReischauerChŏngja

Hanja and meaning

There are 65 hanja with the reading "jeong" and 28 hanja with the reading "ja" on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be used in given names.[1] Typically, "ja" is written with the hanja meaning "child" (子; 아들 자; adeul ja). In Japan, where this character is read ko, it was originally used as suffix for the names of girls in the aristocracy. The practice of adding -ko to girls' names spread to the lower classes following the 1868 Meiji Restoration.[2] Jeong-ja is one of a number of Japanese-style names ending in "ja", along with Young-ja and Soon-ja, that were popular when Korea was under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945, but declined in popularity afterwards.[3] According to South Korean government data, it was the sixth-most popular name for baby girls in 1940.[4] By 1950 there were no names ending in "ja" in the top ten.[5]

Some ways of writing this name in hanja include:

  • 貞子, first hanja meaning "chastity" or "purity" (곧을 정; godeul jeong). The same characters correspond to a number of Japanese given names, among them various names which use kun'yomi readings of the first character, including Sadako, and another less common one Teiko which uses the on'yomi reading of the first character.[6]
  • 正子, first hanja meaning "correct" or "upright" (바를 정; bareul jeong). The same characters correspond to various Japanese given names, including Masako (kun'yomi of first character) and Seiko (on'yomi of first character).[6]

People

People with this name include:

  • Bae Jeong-ja (배정자; 裵貞子; 1870–1950), adopted daughter of Ito Hirobumi, portrayed in the film Femme Fatale: Bae Jeong-ja
  • Ho Jong-suk (originally Ho Jong-ja; 1908–1991), Korean independence activist, later a North Korean politician
  • Bak Jeong-ja (박정자; 朴貞子; 1927–2003), South Korean politician
  • Park Jung-ja (박정자; 朴正子; born 1942), actress
  • Lee Jung-ja (born 1951), South Korean former volleyball player
  • Sin Jung-ja (born 1980), South Korean basketball player
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See also

References
  1. "인명용 한자표" [Table of hanja for use in personal names] (PDF). South Korea: Supreme Court. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
  2. O'Neill, P.G. (2014). Collected Writings of P.G. O'Neill. Routledge. p. 318.
  3. "가장 흔한 이름은? 男 영수→민준ㆍ女 영자→서연". Korea Economic Daily. 2007-03-20. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  4. "한국인이 가장 줗아하는 이름은 무엇일까?". babyname.co.kr. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  5. "한국인이 가장 줗아하는 이름은 무엇일까?". babyname.co.kr. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  6. Breen, Jim (2011). Japanese Names Dictionary. Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group. Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2012-12-02.
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