Chae
| Chae | |
| Hangul | 채 |
|---|---|
| Hanja | 責棌婇睬 |
| Revised Romanization | Chae |
| McCune–Reischauer | Ch'ae |
Chae, also spelled Chai, is a Korean family name and an element in some Korean given names. Its meaning differs based on the hanja used to write it.
Family name
The family name Chae may be written with three different hanja, each having one or two bon-gwan:[1]
- 蔡 (성씨 채), with bon-gwan in Incheon, Gyeonggi-do in what is today South Korea, and Pyonggang County, Kangwon-do in what is today North Korea; it is also used to write the Chinese family name Cai
- 采 (풍채 채, 캘 채), with bon-gwan in Yeosan-myeon, Iksan, Jeollabuk-do in what is today South Korea
- 菜 (나물 채), with bon-gwan in Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do in what is today South Korea
Korean:There is only one Chinese character for the Chae surname. There are two Chae clans: the Ch’ilwoun and the Uuisoung, the Ch’ilwoun clan being the larger. Some records indicate that the Chae clans descended from another clan with the two-character surname of Chaegal. According to the Chaegal clan genealogy, the founding ancestor of the Korean Chaegal clan was a twentieth-generation descendant of a Chinese government official, Chae Kal-lyang, a character who plays an important role in the epic tale of the Three Kingdoms. This descendant migrated to the Shilla kingdom sometime in the early 9th century. He and his descendants lived in the southern tip of the Korean peninsula for four centuries. Then, during the reign of Koryou king Kojong (1213–1259), two brothers split the Chaegal surname. One brother, Young, took the surname Kal and the other brother, Hong, took the surname Chae. Afterward, the surnames Chaegal and Kal became all but extinct, with only a few families surviving into the 20th century. In Korea, most members of the Chae clan live in southern Kyoungsang and Choulla provinces.
The 2000 South Korean Census estimated that 119,251 people had these family names.[2]
People with these family names include:
- Chae Eui-jin, South Korean voice actor
- Chae Eun-hee (born 1982), South Korean marathon runner
- Chae Ho-ki (born 1957), South Korean poet
- Chae Ji-hoon, South Korean speed skater
- Nelson Chai (Chai Joo-suk, born 1965), American investment banker of Korean descent
- Chae Jung-an (stage name, born 1977 as Jang Jung-an), South Korean actress and singer
- Esther K. Chae (Chae Kyung-ju), American actress of Korean descent
- Chae Man-shik (1902–1950), Korean novelist
- Chae Myung-shin (1926–2013), South Korean army general
- Chae Ri-na (born 1977), South Korean singer
- Chae Sang-byung (born 1979) South Korean baseball player
- Chae Su-chan (born 1955), South Korean politician and economist
- Chae Sung-bae (born 1968), South Korean heavyweight boxer
- Chae Sang-woo (born 1999), South Korean actor
- Chae Shi-ra (born 1968), South Korean actress
- Chae Hyungwon South Korean singer, member of Monsta X (몬스타엑스)
In given names
There are 17 hanja with the reading Chae on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be registered for use in given names; they are:[3]
- 菜 (나물 채): vegetable
- 採 (캘 채): to lift
- 彩 (채색 채): colour
- 債 (빚 채): debt
- 采 (풍채 채, 캘 채): appearance
- 埰 (사패지 채): fief
- 寀 (녹봉 채): stipend
- 蔡 (성씨 채): used as a family name (originally a species of tortoise)
- 債 (비단 채): silk
- 寨 (목책 채): wooden fence
- 琗 (옥빛 채): brightness of jade
- 砦 (진터 채): fort
- 釵 (비녀 채): binyeo (traditional Korean hairpin)
- 責 (빚 채): debt
- 棌 (참나무 채): oak tree
- 婇 (여자의 자 채): used in women's names
- 睬 (주목할 채): to watch
Korean given names containing the element Chae include:
- Chae-won (feminine)
- Chae-young (feminine)
- Eun-chae (feminine)
See also
References
- ↑ "한국성씨일람" [List of Korean family names]. Kyungpook National University. 2003-12-11. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
- ↑ "성씨인구분포데이터" [Family name population and distribution data]. South Korea: National Statistics Office. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
- ↑ "인명용 한자표" [Table of hanja for use in personal names] (PDF). South Korea: Supreme Court. Retrieved 2013-10-17.