Jeong Su-jin
Overview
Jeong Su-jin is a widely used Korean personal name, formed by combining the surname "Jeong (鄭·丁·程, etc.)" with the female given name "Sujin." From the 1970s to the 1990s, it steadily ranked among the most preferred names for girls and spread widely among the public; today it is used as an entry encompassing namesakes across various fields. Rather than referring to one specific person, the name itself is often cited as an example showing generational naming culture and the structural characteristics of Korean personal names.
Main details
Structure of the name and Sino-Korean character notation
"Jeong Su-jin" is a typical three-character name consisting of one surname character and two given-name characters. The given name "Sujin" is a combination of the first syllable "Su" and second syllable "Jin"; when written in Sino-Korean characters, the meaning changes greatly.
- Su (秀): outstanding, excellent
- Su (洙): waterside, name of a river
- Su (壽): life, longevity
- Jin (珍): treasure, precious
- Jin (眞): true, truth
- Jin (鎭): suppress, prosper
Among these, the combination "秀珍 (outstanding treasure)" is the most widely used, and "秀眞," "洙珍," "守眞," etc., also appear as registered examples. When only the Hangul name is used, the distinction in notation disappears, and the syllables themselves become the identity of the name.
Naming trends and distribution by period
"Sujin" remained in the upper ranks of names for girls in birth registration from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. During this period, among two-syllable names, "Eunju," "Mikyeong," "Jiyoung," "Sujin," etc., were widely chosen, and traditional naming that valued Sino-Korean character meanings coexisted with modern naming that valued sound and nuance. After the late 1990s, preferences shifted to "Seoyeon," "Jiwoo," "Haeun," etc., and "Sujin" gradually fell in the rankings of newborn names. As a result, the name "Jeong Su-jin" is now understood to be relatively frequent among generations ranging from their late 20s to their 50s.
Social perception and popular culture
"Jeong Su-jin" has a strong association with being a common name, so it often appears in popular culture as the name of an ordinary person or a slice-of-life character. At the same time, as people with the same name are repeatedly reported in news, sports, and the arts, it is cited as a representative case of namesakes for whom it is difficult to tell whom an article title refers to. For this reason, media and academia have established the practice of noting occupation or affiliation together with the name.
Namesakes
People with the same name are distributed across various fields, including actors, musical actors, vocalists, painters, researchers, sports coaches, and corporate practitioners. Detailed histories of each person are covered in individual documents, and this entry focuses on organizing the linguistic and social background of the name itself. When writing a namesake document, it is common to present birth year, field of activity, and representative works together to reduce confusion.
Recent trends
As of 2024–2025, preferences for newborn names in Korea have shifted further toward short and soft syllables, native Korean names, and rare combinations. Meanwhile, as generations born before the 1990s have settled into the social mainstream, names in the "Sujin" family remain among the name groups most frequently encountered in workplaces, administration, and medical settings. In addition, as online people searches and the demand to distinguish namesakes have grown, the importance of identifying information combining occupation, affiliation, and years of activity has increased. Discussions about gender stereotypes surrounding names also continue, and the increasing rate of using only Hangul names is gradually weakening the traditional naming practice centered on Sino-Korean character notation. In personal name databases and public statistics, anonymization methods combining birth year and region have become the standard for identifying namesakes.
Related topics
- [[한국어 이름]]
- [[작명]]
- [[동명이인]]
- [[정 (성씨)]]
- [[이름 통계]]