Young-ja

Young-ja, also spelled Yeong-ja, is a Korean feminine given name. According to South Korean government data, it was the most popular name for baby girls born in 1940.[1] Its meaning depends on the hanja used to write it.

Young-ja
Hangul
영자
Hanja
英子
Revised RomanizationYeong-ja
McCune–ReischauerYŏng-ja

Hanja and meaning

There are 34 hanja with the reading "young" on the South Korean government's list of hanja which may be used in given names.[2][3] The syllable "ja" is generally written using a hanja literally meaning "child" (子; 아들 자; adeul ja). In Japan, where this character is read ko, it was originally used as suffix for the names of girls in the aristocracy. The practice of adding -ko to girls' names spread to the lower classes following the 1868 Meiji Restoration.[4] Names containing this character, such as Soon-ja and Jeong-ja, became popular when Korea was under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945, but declined in popularity afterwards.[5] By 1950 there were no names ending in "ja" in the top ten.[6] Some ways of writing the name Young-ja in hanja include:

  • 英子, first hanja meaning "flower petals" (꽃부리 영; kkotburi yeong). The same characters are also used to write the Japanese feminine given names Eiko and Hideko, among others.[7]
  • 榮子, first hanja meaning "flourishing" (영화 영; yeonghwa yeong). The same characters are also used to write the Japanese feminine given names Eiko and Saeko, among others.[7]

People

People with this name include:

Fictional characters with this name include:

See also

References
  1. 한국인이 가장 줗아하는 이름은 무엇일까? [What are the names that South Koreans like the most?]. babyname.co.kr. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  2. "인명용 한자표" [Table of hanja for use in personal names] (PDF). South Korea: Supreme Court. p. 30. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  3. 유니코드 한자사전 (PDF) (in Korean). National Library of the Republic of Korea. August 2007. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  4. O'Neill, P.G. (2014). Collected Writings of P.G. O'Neill. Routledge. p. 318.
  5. 가장 흔한 이름은? 男 영수→민준ㆍ女 영자→서연 [Most common names? Boys: Yeong-su → Min-jun; Girls: Yeong-ja → Seo-yeon]. Korea Economic Daily. 20 March 2007. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  6. 한국인이 가장 줗아하는 이름은 무엇일까? [What are the names that South Koreans like the most?]. babyname.co.kr. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  7. Breen, Jim. "Japanese Names (ENAMDICT)". Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  8. 신생아 인기 이름 '민준·서연'…드라마 영향? [Popular names for newborns: Min-jun and Seo-yeon ... the effect of TV dramas?]. Seoul Broadcasting System. 9 May 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2017. 지난 1975년에 개봉한 영화 <영자의 전성시대>입니다. 주인공 이름인 '영자'는 당시 가장 흔한 이름 가운데 하나였죠. 실제로, 1940년대 태어난 여자들에게는 '영자' 그리고 남자들에게는 '영수'라는 이름이 가장 많았습니다. 그러나 시대가 바뀌면서 좋아하는 이름도 달라졌죠.
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