Most Korean names, like Vietnamese, are Chinese-influenced and consist of three letters with the first letter representing family.

The three top family names are 金 Kim (Gim) 김, 李 Ri (I) 리 and 朴 Pak (Bak) 박, which may be transliterated in diverse manners, such as Kim, Lee, Park, or Kim, Rhee, Bahk.

The Kim 김 family name represents a number of clans in Korea, including the largest Kimhae Kim Clan. While in Chinese character Kim is written 金, it is unusual as the same character is usually read geum 금 in Korean.

The 金 family name is Jin in Mandarin Chinese (Number 26), Kam in Cantonese and Kim in Vietnamese. The letter means gold and the origin of the family dates back about 4000 years ago. Furthermore during the Qing dynasty, the Manchu imperial family of Aisin Gioro was sinified to Jin.