Family name origins & meanings
- Korean (Ch’oe) : there is only one Chinese character for the surname Ch’oe. Of the 326 Ch’oe clans listed in some sources, only 43 distinct clans can be documented. Ch’oe is the fourth most common surname in Korea. The common Romanization Choi represents a French transliteration of the surname, which is actually pronounced more like Ch’wae. The first Ch’oe, Sob{ou}ldori, was one of the six elders of pre-Shilla Korea; he received his surname from the Shilla King Yuri Isag{uu}m in ad 32.