Tae (Korean name)

Tae
Hangul	태
Hanja	Family/given: 太: "great" Given name only: 泰怠殆態汰兌台胎邰笞 苔跆颱鈦珆鮐脫娧迨
Revised Romanization	Tae
McCune–Reischauer	T'ae

Tae, also spelled Tai, is a rare Korean family name, a single-syllable masculine Korean given name, and an element used in many two-syllable Korean given names. As a family name, it is written with a hanja meaning "great", while in given names, it may have a variety of meanings depending on the hanja used to write it.

As a family name

As a family name, Tae is written with only one hanja, meaning "great" (太).^[1] The 2000 South Korean Census found 8,165 people with the family name Tae.^[2] In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 28.5% of people with that surname spelled it in Latin letters as Tai in their passports, vs. 57.1% as Tae.^[3] People with this surname trace their origins to various bon-gwan, including Namwon, Jeollabuk-do and Yeongsun-myeon (영순면), Gyeongsangbuk-do, both in what is today South Korea.^[1] They claim descent from King Go of Balhae.

People with this family name include:

• Go of Balhae (died 719), founder of Balhae
• Tae Hyun-sil (born 1941), South Korean actress
• Tae Yoon (born 1992), South Korean football player in India

In given names

Hanja

In given names, the meaning of "Tae" depends on the hanja used to write it. There are 20 hanja with this reading on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be used in given names; they are:^[4]

1. 太 (클 태 keul tae): "great"
2. 泰 (클 태 keul tae): "exalted"
3. 怠 (게으를 태 ge-eureul tae): "idle"
4. 殆 (거의 태 geo-ui tae, 위태할 태 witaehal tae): "almost", "dangerous"
5. 態 (모습 태 moseup tae): "form", "shape"
6. 汰 (일 태 il tae): "to wash"
7. 兌 (바꿀 태 bakkul tae): "to change"
8. 泰 (별 태 byeol tae): "platform"
9. 胎 (아이 밸 태 ai bael tae): "unborn child"
10. 邰 (나라 이름 태 nara ireum tae): Tai, an ancient city-state in modern Shaanxi, China
11. 笞 (볼기 칠 태 bolgi chil tae): "to flog"
12. 苔 (이끼 태 ikki tae): "lichen"
13. 跆 (밟을 태 balbeul tae): "to trample"
14. 颱 (태풍 태, taepung tae): "typhoon"
15. 鈦 (티타늄 태 titanyum tae): "titanium"
16. 跆 (옥 무늬 태 ok munui tae): "jade pattern"
17. 鮐 (복어 태 bugeo tae): "blowfish"
18. 脫 (벗을 탈 beoseul tae): "to undress"
19. 娧 (아름다울 태 areumdaul tae): "beautiful"
20. 迨 (미칠 태 michil tae): "to arrive"

As name element

Given names containing this element include:

First syllable Tae-hee Tae-ho Tae-hyun Tae-joon Tae-soo Tae-suk Tae-sung Tae-won

Tae-woo Tae-wook Tae-woong Tae-yeon Tae-yong Tae-young Tae-il

Second syllable Hyun-tae Ji-tae Joon-tae Ki-tae Kyung-tae Young-tae

See also

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

References

1. "한국성씨일람" [List of Korean family names]. Kyungpook National University. 2003-12-11. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
2. "성씨인구분포데이터" [Family name population and distribution data]. South Korea: National Statistics Office. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
3. 성씨 로마자 표기 방안: 마련을 위한 토론회 [Plan for romanisation of surnames: a preparatory discussion]. National Institute of the Korean Language. 25 June 2009. p. 61. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
4. "인명용 한자표" [Table of hanja for use in personal names] (PDF). South Korea: Supreme Court. p. 44. Retrieved 2013-10-17.