Last name origins & meanings:
- Korean: there is one Chinese character for the Son
surname. Some sources mention as many as 118 clans for the Son family,
but only seven can be documented. According to legend, the Son clan’s
founding ancestor was named Kuryema and was one of the six pre-Shilla
elders who made Pak Hyŏkkŏse the first king of Shilla. The first
documented ancestor, however, was called Sun. Sun is said to have
lived a poverty-stricken existence in the Shilla period. His son was a
voracious eater and ate Sun’s old mother’s food as well as his
own. Sun, feeling that he could always get another son but that his
mother was irreplaceable, decided to go into the mountains to bury his
son. When he dug into the ground, however, he found a bell. He hung
the bell on a nearby tree and rang it. So loud and clear was the cry
of the bell that the king heard it in the palace below and came to
investigate. The king was amazed at the bell and gave Sun a house and
food. Later, a Buddhist temple was built on that spot. The founding
ancestor of the Iljik (or Andong) Son clan originally bore the surname
Sun, but during the reign of Koryŏ king Hyŏnjong (1009–1031),
Sun was changed to Son.
- English: from Middle English
sone ‘son’, hence a distinguishing epithet for a son who shared
the same personal name as his father.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic): variant
of Sohn, or Sonn.
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