# Korean names question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509 "2006-05-05T07:07:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/1 "2006-05-05T07:07:01Z")
I have received a letter at work that I have to reply to from a Korean. My problem is that I don’t know which is his first and which is his last name. The name is given as: Choi, Sun-Im (PhD). Can anyone help me? I don’t want to cause an international incident of epic proportions. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/2 "2006-05-05T07:39:30Z")
The family name is Choi. It’s Dr. Choi. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/3 "2006-05-05T08:01:08Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/4 "2006-05-05T18:23:37Z")
In Korea (as well as a few other countries), the family name is given first followed by the personal name. Some people, as the academic mentioned in the OP, when writing in English place a comma after their family name, some people just transliterate their name as they would give it in their native language, and some people give their personal names first followed by their family name. The Vietnamese have an interesting twist on that: In Vietnamese, the family name comes first followed by the middle name (quite often merely ‘male’ or ‘female’ {depending on the gender of the person, of course}) and finally the personal name. When giving their name in English, the middle name remains in the middle; just the family and personal names switch positions. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/5 "2006-05-05T18:37:09Z")
> [@Coil](#): > > My problem is that I don’t know which is his first and which is his last name. Nitpick: No, that’s not your problem. Your problem is that you don’t know which is the surname or family name, and which is the given name(s). For example, take a typical Japanese name like Yoko Ono. She has that name order in an English-speaking environment, but in a Japanese context she would be “Ono Yoko” – so the first and last name switch around, but her surname is still Ono and her given name is still Yoko. For further complication, a lot of people do not have a surname or family name, but that’s another issue altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/6 "2006-05-05T18:41:06Z")
> [@BobT](#): > > The family name is Choi. > > It’s Dr. Choi. And its definately Dr. Choi. Don’t use his given name. And definately use the honorific. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/7 "2006-05-05T18:54:05Z")
I forgot to mention something about the name in the OP. Although it’s spelled in English (and even in Korean: 최) _Choi_, it’s pronounced to rhyme with _weigh_. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/8 "2006-05-05T18:55:23Z")
Well, that didn’t work out quite right. Take 2 with the smilies disabled this time! > [@Monty](#): > > I forgot to mention something about the name in the OP. Although it’s spelled in English (and even in Korean: 최) _Choi_, it’s pronounced to rhyme with _weigh_. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/9 "2006-05-05T19:48:18Z")
A lot of Vietnamese have Van as their middle name, so does Van mean “male”? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/10 "2006-05-05T19:54:48Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > I forgot to mention something about the name in the OP. Although it’s spelled in English (and even in Korean: 최) _Choi_, it’s pronounced to rhyme with _weigh_. So why wasn’t it transliterated “Chey” then? Do you know why they decided to spell it “Choi” instead? ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/11 "2006-05-05T20:23:50Z")
> [@Neidhart](#): > > A lot of Vietnamese have Van as their middle name, so does Van mean “male”? It’s one of several middle names which are used for men. As [this page](http://www.saigon.com/~nguyent/hoa_03.html) states: > [@](#): > > The middle element, when there is one, nearly always tells you about the individual’s sex, since girls’ names - 100% before 1945 and 87% after 1945 - have Thi ( \< Chinese shi) (Pham 1988, 187). Middle names for men are usually Van, Huu, Duc, Dinh, Xuan, Ngoc, Quang, Cong. The middle name may remain the same for all male members of one family. Only one set of three middle elements indicates the relative ages of the siblings. Brothers with manh, trong, qui as middle names are respectively the first, the second and the third in the family, all the following ones taking gia. An older brother may be identified with ba, and his younger brother with thuc. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/12 "2006-05-06T14:35:26Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > So why wasn’t it transliterated “Chey” then? Do you know why they decided to spell it “Choi” instead? Well, it used to be pronounced–quite a long time ago–as though it rhymed with _toy_. It’s still spelled that way and the transliteration is really just a transfer of the Korean spelling to the English spelling. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/13 "2006-05-06T15:08:29Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Nitpick: No, that’s not your problem. Your problem is that you don’t know which is the surname or family name, and which is the given name(s). > > For example, take a typical Japanese name like Yoko Ono. She has that name order in an English-speaking environment, but in a Japanese context she would be “Ono Yoko” Nitpick: For a _typical_ Japanese name you’d be correct, but not in this case. Yoko Ono’s name is Yoko Ono. > [@](#): > > \*[From Wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono) \* > Recently the Japanese press and Ono’s album covers have spelled her name in katakana (ヨーコ・オノ), a writing system used primarily for foreign words, as she spends most of her time in other countries. The katakana above reads “Yoko Ono.” A better example would be the Japanese PM. We call him Junichiro Koizumi, they call him Koizumi Junichiro. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/14 "2006-05-06T17:22:21Z")
> [@Brain Wreck](#): > > Nitpick: For a _typical_ Japanese name you’d be correct, but not in this case. Yoko Ono’s name is Yoko Ono. > > The katakana above reads “Yoko Ono.” > > A better example would be the Japanese PM. We call him Junichiro Koizumi, they call him Koizumi Junichiro. I wonder if that’s a not-so-subtle way of indicating that she isn’t “one of us” anymore. I mean, she is kind of considered to be a fruitcake by a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/korean-names-question/355509/15 "2006-05-06T20:27:09Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I wonder if that’s a not-so-subtle way of indicating that she isn’t “one of us” anymore. The answer is obviously a “yes”. The question is whether this sentiment comes from her or the Japanese, and I think the answer is that it’s more or less mutual. I understand Alberto Fujimori is in something of a similar situation.