Ok (Korean name)

Ok, sometimes spelled Oak or Ock, is an uncommon Korean family name, a single-syllable Korean given name, and an element in some two-syllable Korean given names. It is usually written with a hanja meaning "jade".

Ok
Hangul	옥
Hanja	Family name: 玉 Given name: 玉屋獄沃鈺
Revised Romanization	Ok
McCune–Reischauer	Ok

Family name

The 2000 South Korean census found 22,964 people and 7,288 households with the family name Ok.[1] The surviving bon-gwan (origin of a clan lineage, not necessarily the actual residence of the clan members) at that time included:

• Uiryeong County, South Gyeongsang Province: 19,368 people and 6,157 households[1]
• Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province: 1,085 people and 345 households[1]
• Kaesong, North Hwanghae Province: 708 people and 232 households[1]
• Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province: 537 people and 174 households[1]
• Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province: 441 people and 145 households[1]
• Uiseong County, North Gyeongsang Province: 467 people and 138 households[1]
• Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province: 197 people and 61 households[1]
• Other or unknown: 161 people and 36 households[1]

In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 84.8% of people with this family name spelled it in Latin letters as Ok in their passports, while another 9.0% spelled it as Ock. Rarer alternative spellings (the remaining 6.2%) included Oak and Ohk.[2]

People with this family name include:

• Ok Kwan-bin (died 1933), Korean independence activist
• Simon Ok Hyun-jin (born 1968), South Korean Roman Catholic priest, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Gwangju
• Ock Joo-hyun (born 1980), South Korean singer, former member of Fin.K.L
• Ok Taec-yeon (born 1988), South Korean singer, member of boyband 2PM
• Justine Ok, 21st-century American artist and songwriter of Korean descent

Given name

Hanja and meaning

There are five hanja with the reading "ok" on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be registered for use in given names; they are:[3]

• 玉 (구슬 옥; guseul ok): "jade"
• 屋 (집 옥; jip ok): "house"
• 獄 (옥 옥; ok ok: "prison"
• 沃 (물 댈; mul dael ok): "irrigate"
• 鈺 (보배 옥; bobae ok): "treasure"

People

People with the single-syllable given name Ok include:

• Yeo Ok, poet of the Gojoseon Kingdom which fell in 108 BC
• Jeon Ok (1911–1969), South Korean actress
• Kim Ok (born 1964), North Korean government employee, personal secretary to Kim Jong-il

As name element

One name containing this element, Kyung-ok, was the 10th-most popular name for newborn girls in South Korea in 1950.[4]

Names containing this element include:

• Jong-ok (unisex)
• Kyung-ok (feminine)
• Myung-ok (feminine)
• Seon-ok (feminine)
• Sun-ok (feminine)
• Yeong-ok (unisex)

See also

• List of Korean family names
• List of Korean given names

References

1. 행정구역(구시군)/성씨·본관별 가구 및 인구 [Family names by administrative region (district, city, county): separated by bon-gwan, households and individuals]. Korean Statistical Information Service. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
2. 성씨 로마자 표기 방안: 마련을 위한 토론회 [Plan for romanisation of family names: a preparatory discussion]. National Institute of the Korean Language. 25 June 2009. p. 59. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
3. "인명용 한자표" [Table of hanja for use in personal names] (PDF). South Korea: Supreme Court. August 2007. p. 59. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
4. "한국인이 가장 줗아하는 이름은 무엇일까?". babyname.co.kr. Retrieved 2012-11-09.