Last name origins & meanings:
- Chinese:
Min (Taiwanese) form of Ke. - Chinese:
Cantonese variant of Gao. - Chinese:
variant of Ge 1. - Chinese:
variant of Ge 2. - Korean: there is only
one Chinese character for the surname Ko. There are ten
different Ko clans, but they are all descended from the Ko clan of
Cheju Island. There is no historical information regarding the founder
of this clan, but there is a legend which tells of three men who
appeared from a cave on the north side of Cheju Island’s Halla
Mountain. These three men were the founders of the Yang clan, the Pu
clan, and the Ko clan, the latter being named Ko Ŭl-la. Some days
after the three men emerged from the cave, a box was washed up on the
shore of the island. In the box were three women, horses, cows, and
agricultural seed. From these beginnings, the three established Cheju
Island’s T’amnaguk kingdom and ruled peacefully. Ko is a common
surname found throughout the Korean peninsula. Approximately ten
percent of Cheju Island’s present-day population consists of members
of the Ko family.
- Hungarian (Kő): from
kő ‘stone’, a word from the ancient Finno-Ugric word stock
of Hungarian (cognate with Finnish kivi, Estonian keve),
hence a topographic name for someone who lived on stony ground or by a
notable outcrop of rock, or alternatively a metonymic occupational
name for a mason or stonecutter.
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