창녕 조씨(昌寧 曺氏) — Said to be the representative line of the Cho (曺) surname, with its ancestral seat in Changnyeong.
Said to be the representative line of the Cho (曺) surname, with its ancestral seat in Changnyeong. In the 2015 Census the 창녕 조씨 clan numbered about 366,798 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 조, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 창녕) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
Bujehakgong-pa, Gamsagong-pa, Sanghogun-gong-pa, Sauigong-pa, Nangjanggong-pa
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
조계룡(founder of the Changnyeong Cho clan), 조식(Neo-Confucian scholar; Nammyeong), 조봉암(politician; first Minister of Agriculture and Forestry), 조훈현(go master), 조국(legal scholar and politician)
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창녕 조씨 figures recognized as independence patriots (National Independence Hall / Gonghun public data). Tap a name for the citation.
The Changnyeong Cho clan (昌寧 曺氏) has its ancestral seat in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, and its founder is Jo Gye-ryong (曺繼龍), said to be a figure of the reign of King Jinpyeong of Silla. He is said to have received the surname through a legend involving a prayer at the dragon pond of Mount Hwawang and the character 'Jo (曺)' under his armpit, but the lineage becomes documentarily clear only from the late Goryeo period.
In the late Goryeo period it produced Jo Min-su, a leader of the retreat from Wihwa Island, along with Jo Ik-cheong and Jo Han-ryong, and Jo Ui-saeng and Jo Hui-jik among the 72 Worthies of Dumun-dong. In the Joseon period it produced many civil officials and scholars, including the Neo-Confucian scholar Jo Sik (Nammyeong); the literary masters Jo Wi (曺偉), author of the Dusi Eonhae and Manbunga, and his younger brother Jo Sin (曺伸); Jo Seok-mun, who put down Yi Si-ae's rebellion and rose to Chief State Councillor; and the top civil-examination graduate Jo Sang-chi.
From the mid-Joseon period on, it formed its power base centered on the Yeongnam region, continuing as one of the representative Gyeongsang-line surnames prominent in scholarship and officialdom. In modern and contemporary times there are the politician Jo Bong-am and the go master Cho Hun-hyun, among others.
Detailed lineages and branches may vary by clan and genealogy.
The 창녕 조씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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