Park (name)

House of Park
Country Korea
Ancestral house Itself
Titles King of Silla
Founder King Hyeokgeose
Final sovereign King Gyeongae
Founding 57 BC
Dissolution Fall of Silla in 935
Park
Hangul
Hanja
Revised Romanization Bak
McCune–Reischauer Pak

Park is a common and time-honoured Korean surname, founded by King Hyeokgeose. All Parks are descendants of him in principle except naturalized people. According to the legend of King Hyeokgeose's birth, he was born out of a "gourd" so it became his family name.

When written with a Chinese character (Hanja), it uses the character 朴.

Contents

Founding legend

King Hyeokgeose was the founder of this surname.

According to the legend, a white horse led a village chief to the location of a big egg, and he was said to have been hatched from the egg. When the egg shell cracked, there were rays of light that came from it. A big egg resembled "bak," Lagenaria leucantha, a family of gourd widespread in Asia similar to the African Calabash. When he turned thirteen, he became the founding king of the ancient Korean kingdom of Silla in 57 BCE.

Position in society

Park was one of the royal houses of the Korean kingdom of Silla. Although it failed to take the position of the ruling house of Silla during the kingdom's middle age, most of its queen consorts were from the house of Park. When Silla was at the verge of falling, Park regained the position of the ruling house. However, King Gyeongae was murdured by Gyeon Hwon in 927 and there were no more kings from the Parks after him.

After the fall of Silla, it became a major noble house of Korea. During the Goryeo dynasty, most of the people who passed the highest-level state examination, which was implemented to recruit ranking officials during the Goryeo Dynasty, were Parks.

Notable people

Kings

Name Period of reign

Actors

Athletes

Directors

Entertainers

Historical People

Politicians

Singers

Voice Actors

Kings of the Park dynasty

# Name Period of reign
1 Hyeokgeose of Silla 57 BC - 4 AD
2 Namhae of Silla 4 - 24
3 Yuri of Silla 24 - 57
4 Pasa of Silla 80 - 112
5 Jima of Silla 112 - 134
6 Ilseong of Silla 134 - 154
7 Adalla of Silla 154 - 184
8 Sindeok of Silla 912 - 917
9 Gyeongmyeong of Silla 917 - 924
10 Gyeongae of Silla 924 - 927

Clans

After fall of Silla, it was divided into several clans. According to the last census in 2000 [1], there are 161 Park clans in South Korea.

Clan name (Region) Clan progenitor Percentage (%) (2000)
Miryang (Miryang) Grand Prince Eun-Chim of Milseong 77.8
Bannam (Naju) Lord Hojang 3.6
Juksan (Andong) Grand Prince Eun-Rip of Juksan 1.4
Yeonghae (Yeongdeok) Park Je-Sang 0.7
Chungju (Chungju) Park Sang 0.6
Myeoncheon (Dangjin) Park Sul-Hee 0.1

See also

Royal house
House of Park
Founding year: 57 BC
Preceded by
Founding dynasty
Ruling House of Silla
57 BC – 57 AD
Next:
House of Seok
Preceded by
House of Seok
Ruling House of Silla
80 – 184
Next:
House of Seok
Preceded by
House of Kim
Ruling House of Silla
912 – 927
Next:
abdicated