AMA for Sarah and Grace!
Added 2025-08-12 13:07:47 +0000 UTCHi Sarah & Grace here from @afternoonaasks. We are going to do a “ask us anything” episode so please post here for your Korean or Chinese culture or language or anything anything questions and we will run through some for the episode!
Comments
“Rainbow Hong, Shining Rang.” “Nothing Mu, Finished Jin.” “Imperfect Jae, Departing Yi.” These are episode titles in Dear Hongrang —the names and name meanings of the drama’s three lead characters. Seeing them reminded me that I’ve been curious about personal names and naming conventions. Things like — How Korean and Chinese naming practices are the same and different from each other and from western practices (e.g., are babies named after relatives, living and dead? Do children get “creative”/“unique” names, as we see in the US?). —A family using a common name component for same-sex siblings (and cousins?) in a generation, like Mi Ji and Mi Rae in Our Unwritten Seoul, and Mi Jung and Gi Jung in Our Liberation Notes. Who chooses that common name—a grandparent traditionally? I have a vague sense that the specific meanings chosen are traced to Chinese characters, but I’m not sure and would be interested to hear more. —How names express gender and reflect class, and how the trends maybe have shifted or changed over the years (like, is there a move toward more gender neutral? Or ultra masculine/feminine? I’m thinking of Yoo Rachel in The Heirs having a Biblical name and Kim Sam Soon being teased for her “old-fashioned” name and wanting to be called the more modern “Hee Jin.” —Have you followed naming traditions within your families? Thank you!!
Katie M
2025-08-18 19:58:01 +0000 UTCI know I'm late but in case you ever get a chance in a different episode: I'm super curious about the concept of jeong. In Lia's travel episode, Un talked about jeong as connected to care and hospitality. I also saw Arden Cho use jeong recently in a KPDH interview, describing how she wanted to show Rumi's relationship to Zoey and Mira. It reminds me a bit of how the noonas describe alphas as leaders who take care and responsibility for those around them. (Rewatching Amidst a Snowstorm of Love and Lin Yiyang is exactly this kind of character.) Anyway, this seems like a thing the world needs more of and I'd love to understand it better.
Emily B.W.
2025-08-15 04:22:15 +0000 UTC
