Sang (Korean name)

Sang (Korean: 상) is a rare Korean family name, a single-syllable Korean given name, and an element in many two-syllable Korean given names.

Family name

As a family name, Sang may be written with only one hanja, meaning "yet" or "still" (尙; 오히려 상 ohiryeo sang). The 2000 South Korean Census found 2,298 people and 702 households with this family name. All but five of those listed a single bongwan (origin of a clan lineage, not necessarily the actual residence of clan members): Mokcheon (today Mokcheon-eup (ko)), Dongnam District, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. One person listed a different bongwan, while four others had their bongwan listed as unknown.^[1] They claim descent from Sang Guk-jin (상국진; 尙國珍), an official of the early Goryeo period who was born in Mokcheon and rose to the post of jangri (장리; 長吏) there.^[2][3]

Given name

People with the single-syllable Korean given name Sang include:

• Yi Sang (1910–1937), birth name Kim Haikyung, Korean writer of the Japanese colonial period
• Ku Sang (1919–2004), South Korean poet
• Chang Sang (born 1939), South Korean politician, country's first female prime minister

As a name element

Two names beginning with this syllable were popular names for newborn South Korean boys in the mid-20th century: Sang-chul (10th place in 1950) and Sang-hoon (9th place in 1960 and 1970).^[4] Names containing this syllable include:

• Eun-sang
• Jun-sang
• Sang-chul
• Sang-eun
• Sang-hoon
• Sang-hyun
• Sang-jun
• Sang-mi
• Sang-won
• Sang-woo
• Sang-wook

See also

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