Choi (Korean surname)

This article is about the Korean surname Choi. For Cantonese romanisation of the Chinese surname Cai (蔡), see Cai (surname).
Choi
Family name
Pronunciation Ch'oe, Tchoi, Chye
Meaning pinnacle, top, most, mountain
Region of origin Korea
Language(s) of origin Korean
Related names Cui, Thôi
Choi
Hangul
Hanja
Revised Romanization Choe
McCune–Reischauer Ch'oe
45% of Korean people bear the family name Kim, Lee, or Park
  Kim, Gim
  Lee, Yi, Rhee
  Park, Pak
  Choi
  Jung, Jeong, Chung, Cheong

Choi is a common Korean family name. In English speaking countries, it is most often anglicized Choi, and sometimes also Choe. Ethnic Koreans in the former USSR prefer the form Tsoi (Tsoy) especially as a transcription of the Cyrillic Цой.

Origin

Clans

There are roughly 160 clans of Chois. Most of these are quite small. However, Choi is the 4th most common surname in Korea. The largest by far is the Gyeongju Choi clan, with a 2000 South Korean population of 976,820. The Gyeongju Choe claim the Silla scholar Choe Chi-won as their founder.[1]

Etymology

Choi (Hangul: 최) is written with the Hanja character , meaning "a governor who oversees the land and the mountain". The surname Choi also means mountain or pinnacle.

Choi (崔), originally written in Hanja, is derived from the combination of 2 ancient Chinese characters:

Pronunciation

In Korean, 최 is usually pronounced [tɕʰwe] except by some older speakers who pronounce it [tɕʰø] (this vowel sound is similar to the German ö [ø]). In English, it is most often pronounced /ˈɔɪ/ "Choy".

崔 is Romanized as Cuī and pronounced [tsʰu̯éi̯] in Mandarin Chinese. It is Cheuī [tsʰɵ́y] in Cantonese and Chhui [tsʰuí] in Hokkien.

List of prominent people with the surname Choi

Victor Tsoy - legendary rock-idol (in USSR)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 최 崔 [Choe] (in Korean). Doosan Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  2. 최세진 崔世珍 [Choe Se-jin] (in Korean). Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  3. "Top North official said to be getting re-educated". JoongAng Ilbo. 12 January 2009. Retrieved 2013-05-20.

External links

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