So (Korean name)


So, also spelled Soh, is a Korean family name and an element in Korean given names. Its meaning depends on the hanja used to write it.

Family name

The Korean surname So is normally written with either of two hanja, indicating different lineages:
In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 91% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as So in their passports, while 9% spelled it Soh.
Koreans with these family names include:

Names with this element

Korean names containing the element "so" include:
The name Sora is not composed of two Sino-Korean morphemes "so" and "ra", but rather comes from a single native Korean word meaning "conch shell".

Hanja and meaning

There are 45 hanja with the reading "so", and variant forms of six of those, on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be registered for use in given names; they are:
  1. : "small"
  2. ; "few", "young"
  3. : "place"
  4. : "disappear"
  5. : "originally"; "white"
  6. : "laugh"
  7. *
  8. : "summon"
  9. : "bright"
  10. : "revive"; Perilla frutescens
  11. *
  12. : "clamour"
  13. : "burn"
  14. : "complain"
  15. : "sweep"
  16. : "connect"
  17. *
  18. : "vegetable"
  19. : "pond"
  20. : "illuminate"
  21. : "continue"
  22. : name of a country; used as a surname
  23. :
  24. : "nest"
  25. : "go upstream"
  26. *
  27. : "wavering of a tree"
  28. : "beautiful jade"
  29. : "whistle"
  30. : "sculpt in clay"
  31. : "nighttime"
  32. : "scrape"
  33. : "comb"
  34. : name of a river
  35. : "itch"
  36. : sasa borealis
  37. : tungso
  38. : "solitary"
  39. : "stroll"
  40. : "melt"
  41. : "sincerity"
  42. : ; "awaken"; "collect"
  43. : "high"
  44. : "sky"
  45. *
  46. : "strive"
  47. : "halt"; "pure"
  48. : "gemstone"
  49. : "look towards"
  50. : "salt"