Ku Family History
- Ku Name Meaning
- Chinese : variant of Gu 1. Chinese : variant of Gu 2. Chinese : variant of Gu 3. Korean: there are three Chinese characters for the surname Ku. The most common of the three claims thirty-two clans, but only two can be documented. The other two Ku surnames each have one clan, with its own Chinese character. All four of the Ku clans immigrated from China. The clans that use the more common character came in two waves: the first settled in the Nungsong sometime before 945, and the second, which settled in Ch’angwon, arrived in 1224. The name of the immigrant who founded the first of these two clans has been lost; but the name of the second is Ku Chon-yu. Members of these two clans can be found throughout the Korean peninsula, but 45 percent of them live in Kyongsang South province, while 20 percent of them live in Seoul and Kyonggi province. The founder of the clan that uses the other Ku character was named Ku T’ae-rim. He was an emissary for Tang China on his way to Japan when a storm blew his ship onto the shores of Koguryo Korea in 663. He settled in Koguryo territory and subsequently held a post in that government. Koguryo was a Korean kingdom which existed in the northern part of the Korean peninsula from 37 bc to ad 668. Its territory was incorporated into Shilla when the peninsula was unified in 668. Most of the modern-day members of this clan live in Ch’ungch’ong province. Very little is known of the origins of the clan which uses the third Ku character. There are only a few families which still use this character in Korea; they live in Kyongsang province and Kangwon province.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press
- 224,976 Historical Documents with Ku on Ancestry
- 206,990 Birth, Marriage, and Deaths
- 7,575 Census and Voter Lists
- 4,889 Military Records
- 4,295 Immigration Records
- 1,227 Member Trees
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| Sorry, we couldn't find geographic distribution information for the Ku last name |
from the 1891 England and Wales Census Data
| Sorry, we couldn't find geographic distribution information for the Ku last name |
from the 1851 Canada Census Data
Ku census records
You can use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Ku surname lived over the years.
While the questions in census records vary from place to place, and year to year, you can generally find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, occupations, etc.
Find out where people with the family name Ku lived before coming to
Canada. Using Ancestry, you can search through
passenger arrival records, naturalization records, border crossings, emigration
records, passport applications, and even convict transportation records.
from the Canadian Passenger Lists
Click on a circle in the chart to view Ku immigration records
You can find out when most of the Ku families immigrated to Canada. You can focus your search to immigration records dating from that era.
Immigration records can tell you an ancestor's name, ship name, port of departure, port of arrival and destination.
from 1881 CA Census Data
Ku census records
Census records can offer a lot of little known facts about your Ku ancestors, such as occupation.
Occupation can tell you about your ancestors' social status and economic status.
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about your ancestors including birthplace, occupation and even physical descriptions.
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