Park Seong-on
Overview
Park Seong-on is a personal name used in Korean-speaking contexts, formed by combining the surname Park (朴) and the given name Seong-on. In Romanization, it is usually written as Park Seong-on or Bak Seongon. This name does not belong to a widely known common group of names; therefore, when referring to a specific person, it is common to present identifying information such as affiliation, occupation, or field of activity. This document organizes the composition, notation, and usage patterns of the personal name 'Park Seong-on' itself, and the ways personal-name information is circulated.
Main Content
Composition of the Name
Korean personal names generally consist of one syllable for the surname and two syllables for the given name. 'Park Seong-on' is a three-syllable structure combining the surname 'Park' with the given name 'Seong-on', and the given-name portion is further divided into the two syllables 'Seong' and 'On'. The surname 'Park' is considered one of the most populous surnames in Korea, and accordingly there are many personal names with the same surname. On the other hand, the given name 'Seong-on' is not a particularly common syllable combination, so the likelihood that relatively few people have the exact same full name is high.
Notation and Pronunciation
- Hangul notation: 박성온
- Hanja notation: Depending on the combination of Hanja for personal names, various forms such as 成溫, 星溫, 聲溫, etc. are possible, and the actual Hanja depends on the Hanja for personal names registered by the individual.
- Romanization: Following the Revised Romanization of Korean, it becomes Park Seong-on, but in passports, degrees, papers, etc., conventional spellings such as SEONGON, SEONG ON, and Sungon are also used interchangeably.
- Pronunciation: [Seong-on], and because the final consonant 'ㅇ' of the preceding syllable and the initial consonant 'ㅇ' of the following syllable are adjacent, changes such as liaison or tensification rarely occur.
Namesakes and Identification
Because the surname 'Park' makes up a high proportion of the population, individuals with the same name can exist in different fields. When namesakes in different fields—academia, public institutions, corporations, culture and arts, sports, etc.—are searched together, confusion easily arises unless their affiliation, period of activity, and representative achievements are specified together. This is also why encyclopedias and biographical databases maintain separate articles for namesakes.
Reliability of Personal-Name Information
Information about personal names includes many items requiring verification, such as year of birth, education, and career, so a procedure is required to distinguish and verify primary sources (public institution announcements, institutional profiles, official personnel records) and secondary sources (media reports, encyclopedias). In particular, when searching by name alone, there is a high risk that information about namesakes will be mixed in, so it is recommended to enter occupation or affiliation together when searching.
Recent Trends
In 2024–2025, the channels through which personal information circulates have become multilayered, including search engines, public data portals, social media, and generative AI summary services. In this process, cases have been pointed out as problems in which name-based search results mix information about different namesakes or summarize content of unclear provenance as if it were fact. Accordingly, in personal information services, a method of explicitly exposing namesake distinguishers (affiliation, field, years of activity) is spreading, and with the strengthening of personal information protection norms, the scope of information included in public profiles is also being adjusted. In addition, the mismatch in Romanization of Korean personal names causing confusion in international academic and administrative practice continues to be discussed, and guidance to ensure consistency in notation is being provided at the level of each institution. When a name itself is rare, conversely, search results may be excessively concentrated on a specific individual, raising concerns about privacy infringement.
Related Topics
- [[한국인의 성씨|Korean surnames]]
- [[인명용 한자|Hanja for personal names]]
- [[동명이인|Namesakes]]
- [[국어의 로마자 표기법|Revised Romanization of Korean]]
- [[개인정보 보호|Personal information protection]]