Im Family History
Im Name Meaning
Korean: written 임 and 림 in Chinese characters 林 meaning ‘forest’. There are actually two Chinese characters for this surname. The founding ancestors of all Korean Im clans were originally from China. Some sources indicate that there are 216 clans that use the most common character (林) but only two – the Naju Im family and the P’ŏngt’aek Im family – have actually been documented. The founding ancestor of the P’yŏngt’aek Im family Im P’algŭp immigrated to Korea from China during the Tang Dynasty and settled in the P’yŏngt’aek area. The Naju Im clan is said to be descended from the P’ŏngt’aek Im clan. Members of the Im clans which use this more common Chinese character are found throughout the peninsula. Compare Lim 2 and Rim . Korean: written 임 in Chinese characters 任 meaning ‘to entrust’. Although some sources indicate that there are 120 Im clans that use this Chinese character only two of these are documented: the Im clan of Changhŭng and the Im clan of P’ungch’ŏn. The founders of these two clans are also from China. The founders of both the Changhŭng Im clan and the P’ungch’ŏn Im clan came to Korea during the Koryŏ period (
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022