This article is about the surname spelled Chae (채) in the Revised Romanization of Korean. For the name spelled Chae (재) in the McCune–Reischauer system, see Jae (Korean name). For the given name, see Chae (Korean given name).
Chae (Korean:채), also less commonly spelled Chai, Chea, or Chei is a Korean family name. Its meaning differs based on the hanja used to write it.
Overview
The 2000 South Korean Census found 119,251 people with the family name Chae. It could be written with any of three hanja, indicating different lineages. In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on year 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 87.8% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as Chae in their passports. Another 7.5% spelled it as Chai, 2.8% as Che, and 1.7% as Chea.
Most common (蔡)
蔡 (성씨 채 songssi chae) is by far the most common of the three Chae surnames. This character is also used to write the Chinese family name pronounced Cài ([t͡sʰai̯˥˩]) in Mandarin. The 2000 Census found 114,069 people and 35,099 households with this surname, divided among seventeen reported bon-gwan (clan hometowns, not necessarily the actual residence of clan members), as well as eighty-six people whose bon-gwan was not stated:
Incheon, Gyeonggi (today in South Korea): 37,391 people and 11,415 households They claim descent from Chae Seon-mu (채선무; 蔡先茂), who lived sometime during mid-Goryeo Dynasty.
Other or unreported bon-gwan: 7,422 people and 2,311 households
Second-most common (菜)
菜 (나물 채 namul chae) is the second-most common of the three Chae surnames. The 2000 Census found 3,516 people and 1,067 households with this surname, divided among two reported bon-gwan:
Other or unreported bon-gwan: 73 people and eight households
Least common (采)
采 (풍채 채 pungchae chae, 캘 채 kael chae) is the least common of the three Chae surnames. The 2000 Census found 1,666 people and 566 households with this surname, with one reported bon-gwan:
Yeosan: 1,637 people and 562 households
Other or unreported bon-gwan: 29 people and two households
People
People with these family names include:
John Minkyu Chae (born 1981), Korean American oral and maxillofacial surgeon
Chae Bo-hun (born 1992), South Korean singer-songwriter
123456789101112131415"행정구역(구시군)/성씨·본관별 가구 및 인구"[Family names by administrative region (district, city, county): separated by bon-gwan, households and individuals]. Korean Statistical Information Service. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
↑평강(平康) 채(蔡)[Pyeonggang Chae]. Daejeon: Jokbo Museum. Retrieved 5 June 2016. The Jokbo Museum cites the following work for their pages on family names: 김진우 (2009). 한국인 의 역사[The History of Koreans]. 春秋筆法 [Chunchu Pilbeop]. OCLC502157619.
↑인천(仁川) 채(蔡)[Incheon Chae]. Daejeon: Jokbo Museum. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
Surname list
This page lists people with the surnameChae. If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.