A Study on the Transformation of the Surname System in Late Chosŏn

Abstract

Significant changes occurred in the late Chosŏn (Joseon) dynasty in terms of the formation of the Korean surname system we know today. The most noteworthy change of the surname system during this time was a drastic increase in the number of people who had newly acquired surnames. It is generally known that there was quite a large population of the “surname-less class (無姓層)” until the late Chosŏn dynasty. Who were these people who made up the surname-less class? What kind of social background allowed the people of the surname-less class to acquire surnames? The answers to these questions are related to the question of how all Koreans came to have their surnames today. This study attempts to explore this phenomenon of surname acquisition by the surname-less class and the social background which allowed this phenomenon to take place. The members of the surname-less class numbered about half of the population of Chosŏn only about 300 years ago in the late seventeenth century. During the eighteenth century, people who belonged to the surname-less class quickly began to acquire surnames, and as a result, most of the population of Chŏson had surnames by the first half of the nineteenth century. The rapid decline in the surname-less class population was directly related to the government’s policy on slaves (nobi). It can be understood as a result of the government’s policy to secure sufficient manpower for public service and the slaves’ intention to erase any trace of their former status after becoming yangin.

Keywords

• surname
• surname-less class
• people with surnames
• the process of surname acquisition
• slave
• (commoner)
• occupations