Chon

Family name origins & meanings

• Korean (Ch{ou}n) : there are three Chinese characters for the surname Ch{ou}n.
• Some sources number the clans which use the most common character as high as 178, but only seventeen have been documented. All of these descend from a common ancestor, Ch{ou}n S{ou}p. The founding king of the Kogury{ou} kingdom (37 bc–ad 668) had three sons, the youngest of whom went south and established what would later become one of Kogury{ou}’s rival kingdoms, Paekche. This son took with him ten servants, one of whom was Ch{ou}n S{ou}p.
• Five clans use the second most common Chinese character for their surname. These clans descended from different ancestors, at least two of whom migrated to Korea from China.
• The clan which uses the least common character, the Mun’gy{ou}ng Ch{ou}n, descends from an ancestor named Ch{ou}n Yu-g{ou}m. Ch{ou}n Yu-g{ou}m was a minister sent from China to visit the Kory{ou} court in the mid 14th century. He decided to stay in Korea and married the elder sister of a famous Kory{ou} general, Ch’oe Y{ou}ng. When the Kory{ou} kingdom fell to the Chos{ou}n kingdom in 1392, Ch{ou}n abandoned his government post and retired to the countryside to pass the remainder of his years in peaceful obscurity.