Korean Surnames
이
李
How it's spelled in English
- I(official)
- Lee
- Yi
- Rhee
Usual hanja
李 — plum tree
Well-known clans (bongwan)
전주 이씨 · 경주 이씨
A bongwan is the ancestral home of a clan — two Kims from different bongwan are different families.
Population
- 이(李) 7,306,828 people, 14.7% of the population
Statistics Korea, 2015 Population and Housing Census
About it
The Joseon royal family were Lees of Jeonju. The official romanization is just “I,” but almost everyone writes Lee or Yi.