Daughters are usually recorded in a family record. Usually their given names are listed, but sometimes only their husband’s names are listed. Their records are not as detailed because their full information is recorded as part of their husband’s record in his family’s registry, similar to the wife in the previous example of a married son. A daughter’s record should contain enough information to locate her husband’s record in his family registry. Sometimes her birth date and some other information is also included. In the following example a daughter’s given name, birth date, and husband’s name and clan are listed.
Table 5.3 Sample Married Daughter
The following divides the sample record into lettered sections. Key HanJa characters that can help you identify sections are circled. The sections are interpreted in table 5.4.
Table 5.4 Interpretation of a Sample Married Daughter
| Section | HanJa (from the table above)HanGul————–Interpretation Notes |
| Section A: Gender and Given Name | 女明子 명자
여명자 명자 ————————————————————–
– Note that the given name was repeated in HanGul, which is becoming common in some modern editions of family registries. – Note that the last name was not specified. It is assumed that this daughter has the same name as every child born into this family. The family name is in the title of the family registry itself and is not repeated for each individual. A woman does not change her family name when she is married. – Note that you can find the both of the HanJa characters in the given name in the “HanJa Syllables Used in Korean Given Names” table in chapter 2. You can look them each up in an online Korean-English HanJa dictionary to find the meanings. http://hanjadic.bravender.us defines the syllables of MyeongJa’s given name as follows: Myeong (明, 명) means bright, light, brilliant, or clear. Ja (子, 자) means offspring, child, fruit, or seed of. MyeongJa could be translated as “bright child.” |
| Section B: Birth Date | 壬戍一九二二年十月十五日生
임수1 9 2 2년10월10 5 일생 ————————————————————–
– Note that you can look up the HanJa numbers, vocabulary for dates, and lunar years in chapter 3. – ImSu (壬戍, 임수) could represent the years 1802, 1862, 1922, 1982 and others (see the table of lunar calendar years in chapter 3). In this case, it clearly represents 1922 A.D. because “1922” follows it in HanJa (一九二二). It is common to see both lunar and solar years listed, like the record above, for modern records. Older records may only contain the lunar year, which requires looking for other clues in the text to narrow down the exact year. If you know the year a child was born, for example, the parent’s birth and death years would have to fall before and after the child’s brith; that clue would help narrow down which of the possible solar years to select for the lunar year specified. |
| Section C: Husband Name and Clan | 夫全州崔碩憲
부전주최석헌 ————————————————————–
– Note that JeonJu (全州, 전주) is the name of the city where the JeonJu Choi clan originated. – The clan name can be used to identify the correct family registry for the JeonJu clan of the Choi family. This daughter’s full record, including her children, can be found under her husband’s record in the JeonJu Choi family registry — they are generally not recorded in the daughter’s father’s family registry because she moves to her husband’s registry. Her abbreviated information in this sample record is listed in her parent’s registry with the name of her husband as a link to her record in her husband’s registry where her full record with her children can be found. – Note that you can find the Choi (崔, 최) family name in the “Korean Family Names” table in chapter 2. – Note that you can find the both of the HanJa characters in the given name in the “HanJa Syllables Used in Korean Given Names” table in chapter 2. You can look them each up in an online Korean-English HanJa dictionary to find the meanings. http://hanjadic.bravender.us defines the syllables of SeokHeon’s given name as follows: Seok (碩, 석) means great, eminent, large, or big. Heon (憲, 헌) means constitution, statute, or law. His name could be interpreted “the great law.” |