we see all our actors & actresses, some have the same last names, are they related in any way? so for being a genealogist, I am curious about these names, I have seen a lot of them and wondered about the names, so what do I look for (not as a genealogist, ok?) just curious is all
I have also seen Korean actors and actresses with the same last name. Like Kang Ha-neul and Kim Ha-neul.
The family names are Kang and Kim here. Ha Neul is the firstname in Korea they just happen to write the family name first.
Something for our history interested ones:
And you heard of the infamous family register in many dramas, this is where you can see relations, so not every Kim is related with all the other Kims and so on.
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It has to do with history and the clans fighting each other. It’s like the Scottish clans. (Macleod, MacAlister, Campbell …)
In South Korea, people with the same name are not necessarily related but could not get married until a new law was adopted in 2005.
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Koreans and Chinese have very few last names compared to the total number of people. Throughout history entire clans have been executed due to something called “guilt by association”. That means if one person commits a grave sin, up to 9 generations of their family will all be slaughtered. Many surnames have in this way gone down in history. Those which still exist today could be called “winners”.
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Up till today Korean people still know to which clan they belong. If they have the same name, but are from different clans, they are not related.
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wow everyone what a history lesson! so Ior us americans don’t follow those . mine would be Warner Maryann, right? again thanks y’all for the history lesson!
9 generations? ouch, I am no kin to them, I know some of them the siblings also are actors & actresses, thats why I asked
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Thanks for the history lesson lol 
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This video also explains a lot about Korean family names
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I will look at that in a bit! thank you!
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It’s not that all people with the same last names couldn’t get married. It’s the people with the same last names (성) who also have the same “branch/root/clan” (본 - “bohn” ), who couldn’t marry until the new law in 2005 took effect. Some clans (bohn) can be even divided into smaller branches (파 - “pah”), and you could arguably still marry someone with the same last name from the same root (본), but from different branch (파) but let’s not go into that now.
And just because the last name has the same spelling and sound in Korean doesn’t make it the same last name. It has to have the same Chinese character to be considered the same last name.
So if you have the same last name with the same Chinese character AND you are from the same “bohn (branch/root/clan),” then that means that you actually ARE related way back when, and you couldn’t marry each other until the new law abolished that practice.
For some rarer last names, there may be only one “bohn” for the last name.
For people who have the same spelling and sounding last name in Korean, but didn’t have the same Chinese characters, there was no problem marrying even before the new law, because they are actually two different last names. And even if you had the same Chinese characters, if you didn’t come from the same branch/clan (bohn), then there was no issue, either.
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thanks for the lesson! love learning stuff!
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