Koh (surname)

Last updated
Koh
Language(s) Chinese (often Southern Min), German (via Serbo-Croatian), Korean
Origin
Derivation
  • Chinese (許): probably toponymic, from the state of Xǔ
  • German: occupational, from Koch meaning "cook"
Other names
Alternative spelling
  • Chinese (許): Xu, Hsu, Hui, Kho
  • German: Kuhač
  • Korean: Ko, Go

Koh is a surname in various cultures. Its languages of origin include Chinese, German (via its Serbo-Croatian spelling), and Korean.

Contents

Origins

Koh may be a spelling of a number of Chinese surnames, listed below by their spelling in Hanyu Pinyin, which reflects the Standard Mandarin pronunciation: [1]

The surname Koh found among descendants of the Germans of Yugoslavia originated from the German surname Koch. The surname Kuhač is similarly derived. [3]

As a Korean surname, Koh is a variant spelling of the surname most commonly spelled as Ko (based on its McCune–Reischauer transcription; Korean : 고; Hanja : 高; RR : Go). [4] [5]

Statistics

Koh was the 10th-most common surname among ethnic Chinese in Singapore as of 1997 (ranked by English spelling, rather than by Chinese characters). Roughly 48,100 people, or 1.9% of the Chinese Singaporean population at the time, bore the surname Koh. [6]

According to the 2000 South Korean census, there were 435,839 people in 135,488 households with the surname spelled Go in Revised Romanization. Among these, 325,950 people in 100,954 households were members of the Jeju Go clan. [7] This surname is only infrequently spelled as Koh in South Korea: in a study based on a sample of applications for South Korean passports in 2007, 11.4% of applicants with this surname chose to spell it as Koh in the Latin alphabet, against 67.5% who chose to spell it as Ko, and 18.3% as Go. [8]

The 2010 United States Census found 3,595 people with the surname Koh, making it the 9,090th-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase from 2,893 (10,226th-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, slightly fewer than nine-tenths of the bearers of the surname identified Asian. [9]

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References

  1. ↑ Hanks, Patrick; Coates, Richard; McClure, Peter, eds. (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Oxford University Press. p. 1501. ISBN   9780192527479.
  2. ↑ Jones, Russel (August 1959). "Chinese Names: Notes on the use of surnames & personal names by the Chinese in Malaya". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 32 (187): 3–84. JSTOR   41505683.
  3. ↑ Зборник о Србима у Хрватској. Vol. 3. Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. 1995. pp. 374, 382. OCLC   22916628.
  4. ↑ "고씨(高氏)의 유래와 본관" [The origins and bon-gwan of the surname Go]. Academy of Korean Studies . Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  5. ↑ "(71)제주고씨" [(71) Jeju Go clan]. JoongAng Ilbo . 2 July 1983. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  6. ↑ "Popular Chinese Surnames in Singapore". Statistics Singapore Newsletter. Vol. 20, no. 2. October 1997. Archived from the original on 23 February 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  7. ↑ "행정구역(구시군)/성씨·본관별 가구 및 인구" [Family names by administrative region (district, city, county): separated by bon-gwan, households and individuals]. Korean Statistical Information Service. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  8. ↑ 성씨 로마자 표기 방안: 마련을 위한 토론회 [Plan for romanisation of surnames: a preparatory discussion]. National Institute of the Korean Language. 25 June 2009. p. 57. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  9. ↑ "How common is your last name?". Newsday. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
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