고령 신씨(高靈 申氏) — A Korean clan whose founder is Sin Seong-yong (申成用), who passed the civil examination under King Gojong of Goryeo and held the post of Geomgyo Gungigam; its clan seat is Goryeong in North Gyeongsang Province. It flourished as a leading family of early Joseon, when Sin Jang's son Sin Suk-ju rose to Chief State Councillor, and later produced the Silhak scholar Sin Gyeong-jun, the painter Sin Yun-bok and the independence activists Sin Gyu-sik and Sin Chae-ho. It is a lineage distinct from the Pyeongsan Sin.
A Korean clan whose founder is Sin Seong-yong (申成用), who passed the civil examination under King Gojong of Goryeo and held the post of Geomgyo Gungigam; its clan seat is Goryeong in North Gyeongsang Province. It flourished as a leading family of early Joseon, when Sin Jang's son Sin Suk-ju rose to Chief State Councillor, and later produced the Silhak scholar Sin Gyeong-jun, the painter Sin Yun-bok and the independence activists Sin Gyu-sik and Sin Chae-ho. It is a lineage distinct from the Pyeongsan Sin. In the 2015 Census the 고령 신씨 clan numbered about 129,718 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 신, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 고령) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
The Goryeong Sin (高靈 申氏) take Goryeong County in North Gyeongsang Province as their clan seat and honor as founder Sin Seong-yong (申成用), who passed the civil examination under King Gojong of Goryeo and held the post of Geomgyo Gungigam (檢校軍器監). According to several regional encyclopedias of local culture, his forebears were a local family who had lived in Goryeong for generations and served as hojang, the heads of the county clerks, which is why his descendants took Goryeong as their seat. The Goryeong Sin Clan Association conjectures that, since Goryeong was the heart of the Daegaya kingdom, the family may descend from Daegaya royalty, and some sources call them descendants of a Silla noble house. No records support these claims, however, and they survive only as tradition. Although they share the surname 申, the Goryeong Sin are a lineage separate from the Pyeongsan Sin.
Goryeong was originally the center of the Daegaya kingdom. After King Jinheung of Silla destroyed Daegaya it became Daegaya-gun, and in 757 it was renamed Goyang-gun. Under King Taejong of Joseon the "Go" of Goyang and the "Ryeong" of neighboring Yeongcheon-hyeon were combined to form Goryeong-hyeon, and in 1895 it absorbed parts of Seongju and Hyeonpung to become Goryeong County.
The founder's fifth-generation descendant Sin Deok-rin (申德隣, pen name Suneun) passed the civil examination in late Goryeo and served as Minister of Rites and as academician of the Bomungak. A friend of Yi Saek and Jeong Mong-ju, he excelled at regular, cursive and clerical scripts, and his bafen-style writing was known as the "Deok-rin style". When Goryeo fell he is said to have withdrawn to Dumundong and then to Gwangju in Jeolla Province, declining office under the new dynasty; he was enshrined at the Yeongyeon Seowon in Ugok-myeon, Goryeong. His son Sin Po-si (申包翅, 1361-1432) also passed the civil examination in 1383 but retired with his father to Dumundong and later taught students in Namwon. Only after repeated summons from King Sejong and the urging of his eldest son Sin Jang did he take office, serving as Second Censor and Third Minister of Works. Some sources explain that the clan's large presence in South Jeolla today goes back to Sin Deok-rin's retreat to Gwangju.
In the generation of Sin Po-si's three sons the clan divided into three main lines. The eldest, Sin Jang (申檣, 1382-1433), passed the civil examination in 1402, became the first Deputy Director of the Hall of Worthies (Jiphyeonjeon) founded by King Sejong, rose to Second Minister of Works, and was renowned as a calligrapher. The second son, Sin Pyeong (申枰), served as a remonstrance official, and the third, Sin Je (申梯), as an inspector. All five of Sin Jang's sons, Sin Maeng-ju, Sin Jung-ju, Sin Suk-ju, Sin Song-ju and Sin Mal-ju, passed the state examinations.
The most famous member of the clan is Sin Suk-ju (1417-1475, pen name Bohanjae). As a scholar of the Hall of Worthies he took part in the creation of Hunminjeongeum and the compilation of the Dongguk jeongun; after a mission to Japan he wrote the Haedong jegukgi; he was enrolled four times as a merit subject and twice served as Chief State Councillor. His eight sons spread across the country and founded many sub-branches. His son Sin Myeon was killed during Yi Si-ae's rebellion while governor of Hamgil Province, and Sin Jun joined the 1506 restoration of King Jungjong and was made Prince Goyang. Among his grandsons were Sin Jong-ho, who topped the examinations three times, Left State Councillor Sin Yong-gae, and Sin Gwang-han, chief scholar and Left Associate State Councillor. The clan is said to have produced three state councillors and three chief scholars (daejehak) in the Joseon period; some sources also count seven merit subjects, two officials honored for incorruptibility and four scholars granted study leave. The number of civil examination graduates is given variously as 89 or 94.
The family also intermarried with the royal house. According to Wikipedia and other sources, Sin Jong-ho was a son-in-law of Prince Uichang, a son of King Sejong by a concubine; Sin Jong-heup, husband of King Taejong's daughter Princess Sukgyeong, and Sin Hang, husband of King Seongjong's daughter Princess Hyesuk, also belonged to the clan. Lady Sin, mother of King Seongjong's deposed queen Yun, is said to have been Sin Pyeong's daughter.
Sin Mal-ju's descendants flourished in Namsandae village in Sunchang, Jeolla Province. His grandson Sin Gong-je (申公濟, 1469-1536) served as Minister of Personnel and Right Associate State Councillor, was selected as an incorruptible official, and published the Haedong myeongjeok, a collection of famous calligraphy. In the seventeenth century Sin Yu (申濡), who traveled to Japan with a diplomatic mission, and his younger brother Sin Hon (申混) won fame as writers, and in the eighteenth century the Silhak scholar Sin Gyeong-jun, author of the Hunminjeongeum unhae and the Dorogo, emerged from this line. A line descended from a secondary son of Sin Mal-ju's grandson Sin Gong-seop produced the court painter Sin Han-pyeong and his son, the genre painter Sin Yun-bok.
In Cheongju, Chungcheong Province, the Goryeong Sin settled in Nangseong, Gadeok and Miwon east of Sangdangsan were called the "Sandong Sin" (Sin east of the mountain). This line, begun when Sin Suk-ju's grandson Sin Gwang-yun settled there after the 1504 purge, produced Sin Sik (申湜), a disciple of Toegye Yi Hwang, and became one of the leading Southerner (Namin) families of Cheongju in late Joseon. When some of its members joined Yi In-jwa's rebellion of 1728, the family's fortunes declined for a time.
During the Korean Empire and the Japanese colonial period the Sandong Sin of Cheongju produced many independence activists. The clan calls Sin Gyu-sik, a former Korean Empire army officer who founded the Dongjesa in Shanghai and served as acting premier and foreign minister of the Provisional Government; Sin Chae-ho, author of Doksa sillon, Joseon sanggosa and the Declaration of the Korean Revolution; and Sin Baek-u the "three talents of Sandong". Sin Seok-u, who proposed the name "Daehan Minguk" (Republic of Korea) at the first session of the Provisional Assembly and later took over and ran the Chosun Ilbo, and Sin Hong-sik, one of the 33 national representatives of the March First Movement, were also Goryeong Sin.
In the seventh generation, among Sin Po-si's three sons, the clan split into the Amheon-gong (Sin Jang), Jeongeun-gong (Sin Pyeong, also called Jeongeon-gong) and Gamchal-gong (Sin Je) branches, of which Amheon-gong is the core. In the eighth generation Sin Jang's five sons founded the Seoyun-gong (Sin Maeng-ju), Sunchang-gong (Sin Jung-ju), Munchung-gong (Sin Suk-ju), Andong-gong (Sin Song-ju) and Gwiraejeong-gong (Sin Mal-ju) branches; Sin Pyeong's sons the Jeongjae-gong, Jukjae-gong and Seongojae-gong branches; and Sin Je's sons the Saseong-gong, Busa-gong, Sajeong-gong and Sajik-gong branches, twelve in all. Within the Munchung-gong line further branches split off, such as the Soan-gong branch of Sin Jun and the Yeongseong-gun branch of Sin Hyeong. Separately, the descendants of the third-generation Sin In-gi (申仁杞) form the Sijung-gong branch.
According to the national census, the Goryeong Sin numbered 116,966 people in 36,250 households in 2000 and 129,718 in 2015. In the clan seat of Goryeong County, descendants of the Jeongeun-gong branch live in clan villages such as Sachon-ri in Ugok-myeon and Unsan-ri in Unsu-myeon. Other settlements include Namsandae village in Sunchang, North Jeolla (Gwiraejeong-gong branch); Gwanjeong-ri in Nangseong-myeon and the Gadeok area of Cheongju (the Sandong Sin); Goheung, South Jeolla (Gamchal-gong and Sijung-gong branches); Haeji village in Jusam-dong, Yeosu (Munchung-gong branch); Bongdu village in Ilpae-dong, Namyangju (Bongjae-gong branch); and Jincheon, Yeongwol, Cheongbuk-eup in Pyeongtaek, Okcheon and Nagan-myeon in Suncheon.
The clan's generation characters (hangnyeol) are as follows: 19th generation 權 (gwon), 20th 綠 (rok), 21st 模 (mo), 22nd 求 (gu), 23rd 休 (hyu) or 彬 (bin), 24th 雨 (u), 25th 植 (sik), 26th 浩 (ho), 27th 秀 (su), 28th 熙 (hui, first syllable), 29th 圭 (gyu), 30th 鍾 (jong, first syllable), 31st 永 (yeong), 32nd 相 (sang, first syllable), 33rd 燮 (seop), 34th 在 (jae, first syllable), 35th 鎔 (yong), 36th 泰 (tae, first syllable) and 37th 根 (geun). Sin Gyu-sik's family, for example, follows the sequence grandfather Sin Jeong-hyu (休), father Sin Yong-u (雨), Sin Gyu-sik (植), and Sin Chae-ho's family the sequence great-grandfather Sin Myeong-hyu (休), grandfather Sin Seong-u (雨), father Sin Gwang-sik (植), Sin Chae-ho (浩).
The nationwide Goryeong Sin Clan Association (Goryeong Sinssi Daejonghoe) and the associations of each branch continue to hold ancestral rites and publish genealogies. This article is based on the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, the regional encyclopedias of local culture, Wikipedia and other sources; lineages, generation counts and offices may differ between sources, so please check against your own family genealogy.
Amheon-gong-pa, Jeongeun-gong-pa, Gamchal-gong-pa, Munchung-gong-pa, Gwiraejeong-gong-pa, Sijung-gong-pa, Soan-gong-pa, Yeongseong-gun-pa
The Amheon-gong branch (巖軒公派) descends from Sin Jang (申檣, 1382-1433, pen name Amheon), seventh generation from the founder Sin Seong-yong, and forms the core of the Goryeong Sin clan. The eldest son of Sin Po-si, who had withdrawn to Dumundong at the end of Goryeo, Sin Jang was born at Hochon in Namwon, passed the civil examination in 1402 at the age of twenty, became the first Deputy Director of the Hall of Worthies in 1421, and rose to Second Minister of Works. Later records sometimes call him chief scholar or Royal Secretary.
All five of his sons passed the state examinations, and in the eighth generation they founded the Seoyun-gong (Sin Maeng-ju), Sunchang-gong (Sin Jung-ju), Munchung-gong (Sin Suk-ju), Andong-gong (Sin Song-ju) and Gwiraejeong-gong (Sin Mal-ju) branches. The Bongjae-gong line, settled in Bongdu village in Ilpae-dong, Namyangju since the fifteenth century, descends from Sin Hae (申海), Sin Jung-ju's third son, who passed the licentiate examination but never took office. Sin Suk-ju's eight sons in turn spread across the country, and the regional encyclopedias describe the Amheon-gong branch as the main body of the clan.
The Jeongeun-gong branch (靜隱公派) descends from Sin Pyeong (申枰, Jeongeun-gong), Sin Po-si's second son, who served as a remonstrance official (jeongeon) in the Office of the Censor-General; after this office it is also called the Jeongeon-gong branch. Lady Sin, mother of King Seongjong's deposed queen Yun, is said to have been Sin Pyeong's daughter, linking this family to the maternal relatives of King Yeonsangun.
According to the Digital Goryeong Encyclopedia of Local Culture, when King Danjong was deposed under King Sejo, Sin Pyeong did not return to his home in Jeolla Province but retired to Mogagok (Mogaesil) in Sachon-ri, Ugok-myeon, Goryeong, where he built a pavilion called Mogajeong out of longing for his home. His descendants stayed on and formed clan villages in the clan seat of Goryeong. In the next generation the branch divided into the Jeongjae-gong (Sin Maeng-jeong), Jukjae-gong (Sin Jung-jeong) and Seongojae-gong (Sin Suk-jeong) lines, and the Jeongeun-gong families of Goryeong further divide into the Saengwon-gong, Tongdeongnang-gong and Seongjae-gong lines. Sachon-ri and Saegureum village in Unsan-ri, Unsu-myeon are the main clan villages; Sachon-ri has a stele honoring the filial piety of two clan members, and Unsan-ri has the clan hall Samhakjae.
The Gamchal-gong branch (監察公派) descends from Sin Je (申梯), Sin Po-si's third son, who served as an inspector (gamchal) in the Office of the Inspector-General. In the next generation it divided into four lines: Saseong-gong (Sin Ja-gyo), Busa-gong (Sin Ja-gang), Sajeong-gong (Sin Ja-dong) and Sajik-gong (Sin Ja-jeong).
Its best-known settlement is Goheung in South Jeolla. According to the Digital Goheung Encyclopedia of Local Culture, Sin Seok (申碩) of this branch gave up his post during the literati purge of 1498 and withdrew to Maryun village in Heungyang-hyeon; his descendants prospered and produced many notable figures, including merit subjects of the Imjin War. His tomb is in Andong village, Annam-ri, Daeseo-myeon, Goheung, where the memorial hall Wonmojae was built in his honor in 1945. Chunguisa in Chimgyo-ri, Namyang-myeon (built 1980) honors the loyalty of Sin Yeo-ryang (申汝樑, 1564-1606) and other members of the clan active in the Imjin War. Descendants of Sin Sa-geum of the Sijung-gong branch, who arrived in late Goryeo, also live in Goheung.
The Munchung-gong branch (文忠公派) descends from Sin Suk-ju (申叔舟, 1417-1475, pen name Bohanjae) and takes its name from his posthumous title Munchung (文忠). The third son of Sin Jang, he took part as a Hall of Worthies scholar in the creation of Hunminjeongeum and the compilation of the Dongguk jeongun, wrote the Haedong jegukgi, was enrolled four times as a merit subject and served as Chief State Councillor.
Sin Suk-ju had eight sons, Sin Ju, Sin Myeon, Sin Chan, Sin Jeong, Sin Jun, Sin Bu, Sin Hyeong and Sin Pil, who scattered to many regions and founded numerous sub-branches. The best known are the Soan-gong branch of Sin Jun and the Yeongseong-gun branch of Sin Hyeong; Sin Yeong-eom, a fifth-generation descendant of Sin Bu, settled in Jiam-ri, Jincheon, where his family has lived for some 350 years. In Haeji village, Jusam-dong, Yeosu, the descendants of Sin Hap (申榼), who moved there from Cheongju around the time of the Manchu invasion of 1636, form a clan village. His grandsons Sin Jong-ho, Sin Yong-gae and Sin Gwang-han and the modern historian Sin Chae-ho (his eighteenth-generation descendant) belong to this line. His portrait, a designated Treasure, is enshrined at the Gubong Portrait Shrine in Gadeok-myeon, Cheongju.
The Gwiraejeong-gong branch (歸來亭公派) descends from Sin Mal-ju (申末舟, 1429-1503, pen name Gwiraejeong), the youngest son of Sin Jang. He passed the civil examination in 1454 and married a daughter of Seol Baek-min of the Sunchang Seol clan of Namsandae village. A widely told story holds that after King Danjong abdicated he gave up office and retired to his wife's home in Sunchang, building the Gwiraejeong pavilion; but the royal annals record that he later served as Inspector-General of the Censorate, Magistrate of Jeonju and Army Commander of Right Gyeongsang, and the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture judges the story of his avoiding office to be inaccurate.
Namsandae village in Ganam-ri, Sunchang-eup is the branch's home, and the clan villages in Daesan-ri, Jeokseong-myeon and Seryong-ri, Ingye-myeon were founded by descendants who moved out from Namsandae. In his grandsons' generation the line divided into the Sunchang line of the eldest grandson Sin Gong-je (申公濟) and the Seoul line of the second grandson Sin Gong-seop, which are said to have been reunited under the Silhak scholar Sin Gyeong-jun. The seventeenth-century writers Sin Yu and Sin Hon, the court painter Sin Han-pyeong and the genre painter Sin Yun-bok (from a line of a secondary son of Sin Gong-seop) also came from this branch. The Gwiraejeong pavilion and Namsansa shrine, Lady Seol's Exhortation to Virtue (a Treasure), the Ten Elders' Gathering album and Sin Gyeong-jun's old maps survive.
The Sijung-gong branch (侍中公派) descends from Sin In-gi (申仁杞), third generation from the founder Sin Seong-yong. In the third generation there were two brothers, Sin In-jae and Sin In-gi, and the descendants of the younger, Sin In-gi, formed the Sijung-gong branch. Because it split off before the three branches that emerged from Sin Po-si's sons in the seventh generation (Amheon-gong, Jeongeun-gong and Gamchal-gong), it is usually described separately from them. The Digital Sunchang and Digital Goryeong encyclopedias of local culture also list the Sijung-gong branch alongside the three main branches.
Its main settlement is Goheung in South Jeolla. According to the Digital Goheung Encyclopedia of Local Culture, Sin Sa-geum (申思襟) of this branch came to what is now Dohwa-myeon, Goheung, at the end of Goryeo and founded a village, where his descendants still live; his tomb is also in Dohwa-myeon. Descendants of Sin Seok of the Gamchal-gong branch live in Goheung as well. Around 1988 the Goryeong Sin of Goheung numbered 1,939 households, and census figures show a decline from 7,863 people in 1985 to 2,599 in 2015.
The Soan-gong branch (昭安公派) descends from Sin Jun (申浚, 1444-1509, pen name Naheon), a son of Sin Suk-ju. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, Sin Jun took first place in a special civil examination in 1470, was specially appointed Fourth Minister of War, and the next year was enrolled as a fourth-grade Jwari merit subject. After serving as Royal Secretary and Vice Minister of Revenue he was made Prince Goyang (高陽君), and he went on to hold many offices, including Minister of Personnel, Works and Punishments, Mayor of Hanseong, Inspector-General and Left Associate State Councillor. Having joined the 1506 restoration of King Jungjong, he was enrolled as a third-grade Jeongguk merit subject, elevated to Grand Prince Goyang (高陽府院君) and rose to Left Assistant State Councillor. The branch takes its name from his posthumous title Soan (昭安).
According to the clan's own accounts, the independence activist Sin Gyu-sik belonged to this branch, and the diplomat Shin Kak-soo is among the modern figures introduced as its descendants (only public titles are given for living people). A family pagoda-style tomb of the branch is said to stand on a hillside in Nodong-ri, Gadeok-myeon, Cheongju, and the seasonal rite is said to be held each year on the tenth day of the tenth lunar month.
Note: Members and lineage are summarized from clan accounts and may differ by source and branch association, so please check your own genealogy.
The Yeongseong-gun branch (靈城君派) is a sub-branch of the Munchung-gong line descended from Sin Hyeong (申泂, 1449-1487), a son of Sin Suk-ju. Sin Hyeong served as director of the Office of Palace Supplies and was posthumously named Right State Councillor; his son was Sin Gwang-han, chief scholar and Left Associate State Councillor, who was enrolled as a Wisa merit subject after the 1545 purge and made Prince Yeongseong (靈城君).
According to the Digital Cheongju Encyclopedia of Local Culture, Sin Hyeong's son Sin Gwang-yun (申光潤, 1468-1554), tenth generation from the founder, was implicated in the purge of 1504; released after the restoration of 1506, he settled in Moae village, Yonggye-ri, Bugi-myeon, Cheongju, and later moved to Meogeumi (Mukjeong) in Gwanjeong-ri, Nangseong-myeon. His descendants spread from Gwanjeong-ri across Nangseong and the neighboring Gadeok and Miwon areas, forming clan villages, and because they lived east of Sangdangsan they were called the "Sandong Sin". In the early 2010s there were 172 Goryeong Sin households in the Nangseong area alone, and most residents of Gwanjeong-ri are still Goryeong Sin. Sin Sik (申湜, 1551-1623), Sin Gwang-yun's great-grandson and a disciple of Toegye Yi Hwang, belongs to this line, and the family was one of Cheongju's leading Southerner (Namin) families in late Joseon.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
Sin Seong-yong(founder of the Goryeong Sin clan), Sin Jang(first Deputy Director of the Hall of Worthies, founder of the Amheon-gong branch), Sin Suk-ju(Munchung-gong, Hunminjeongeum, Chief State Councillor), Sin Mal-ju(Gwiraejeong, founder of the Gwiraejeong-gong branch), Sin Myeon(governor of Hamgil, killed in Yi Si-ae's rebellion), Sin Jong-ho(three-time top examinee, Royal Secretary), Sin Yong-gae(Left State Councillor), Sin Gwang-han(chief scholar, Left Associate State Councillor), Sin Gyeong-jun(Yeoam, Silhak scholar), Sin Yun-bok(Hyewon, genre painter), Sin Gyu-sik(Yegwan, Provisional Government foreign minister), Sin Chae-ho(Danjae, independence activist), Sin Seok-u(proposed the name Daehan Minguk, president of the Chosun Ilbo)
Tap a name for the full profile (life, career, grave, descendants).
고령 신씨 figures recognized as independence patriots (National Independence Hall / Gonghun public data). Tap a name for the citation.
The Goryeong Shin (高靈 申氏) trace their descent to Shin Seong-yong (申成用), who under Gojong, the 23rd king of Goryeo, passed the civil examination and received the honorary post of Geomgyo Gungigam (檢校軍器監). Though they share the surname Shin (申), they are regarded as a lineage distinct from the Pyeongsan Shin.
Because the founder arose from the local gentry of Goryeong — once the seat of the flourishing kingdom of Daegaya — some hold that the clan descends from Daegaya royalty or nobility. The head clan association tentatively acknowledges this, but with no supporting records it remains unproven.
The clan's seat is Goryeong County in North Gyeongsang Province; besides the southwestern part of the province around Goryeong and Seongju, its members are also numerous in Cheongju (North Chungcheong), Goheung (South Jeolla) and Anseong (Gyeonggi).
For other branch associations, see the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
✍ Request additions / corrections to the 고령 신씨 family tree infoStart your family tree free →