So (), also spelled Soh, is a Korean family name and a Korean given name.

Family name The Korean surname So is normally written with either of two hanja, indicating different lineages: (, ): The largest bongwan is Jinju. This is the more common of the two lineages; the 2000 South Korean census found 39,552 people with this family name, belonging to 12,270 households. Most were located in Seoul (9,494), Jeollabuk-do (8,579), or Gyeonggi-do (7,144). (, ): The largest bongwan is Pyongsan, whose members trace the lineage back to Myeongjong of Goryeo. This is the less common of the two lineages; the 2000 South Korean census found 9,904 people with this family name, belonging to 3,096 households. Most were also located in Seoul (2,424), Gyeonggi-do (2,101), or Jeollabuk-do (1,189). (): . The 2000 South Korean census found one person with this surname, living in Jeju-do, who was not a member of a household. There were also an additional 70 people who wrote their surname with the same hanja, but pronounced it Cho (초) instead; 39 of them lived in Jeju-do as well.

In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 91% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as So in their passports, while 9% spelled it Soh.

Koreans with these family names include: So Chae-won (born 1997), South Korean compound archer So Chan-whee (born Kim Kyoung-hee, 1972), South Korean singer So Hee-jung (born 1973), South Korean actress So Hyun-kyung (born 1965), South Korean television screenwriter So Ji-sub (born 1977), South Korean actor So Joo-yeon (born 1993), South Korean actress June-Young Soh (born 1965), South Korean musical director Ky-Chun So (born 1958), South Korean theologian So Yi-hyun (born Jo Woo-jung, 1984), South Korean actress So Yoo-jin (born 1981), South Korean actress So Jung-hwan (born 2005), Member of Treasure

Given name People with the given name So include:

Gwangjong of Goryeo (925–975), personal name Wang So

See also List of Korean names

References