Chon Family History

Korean (Chŏn): written 전 in Chinese characters 全 meaning ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’. There are actually three Chinese characters for the surname Chŏn. (i) Some sources number the clans which use the most common character 全 as high as 178 but only seventeen have been documented. All of these descend from a common ancestor Chŏn Sŏp (全 聶). The founding king of the Koguryŏ kingdom (37 BC–AD 668) had three sons, the youngest of whom went south and established what would later become one of Koguryŏ's rival kingdoms, Paekche. This son took with him ten servants, one of whom was Chŏn Sŏp.

(ii) Five clans use the second most common Chinese character for their surname. These clans descended from different ancestors, at least two of whom migrated to Korea from China. (iii) The clan which uses the least common character, the Mun’gyŏng Chŏn, descends from an ancestor named Chŏn Yu-gŏm. Chŏn Yu-gŏm was a minister sent from China to visit the Koryŏ court in the mid 14th century.

He decided to stay in Korea and married the elder sister of a famous Koryŏ general, Ch’oe Yŏng. When the Koryŏ kingdom fell to the Chosŏn kingdom in 1392, Chŏn abandoned his government post and retired to the countryside to pass the remainder of his years in peaceful obscurity.

Compare Cheon, Chun, Jeon, and Jon. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 莊, see Zhuang. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 張, see Zhang.