함열 남궁씨(咸悅 南宮氏) — A clan seated at Hamyeol in Iksan, North Jeolla, tracing to Namgung Won-cheong, said to have been enfeoffed as Count of Gammulah (Hamyeol) after driving back the Jurchen as a grand general in early Goryeo. It is known as Korea's most numerous compound (two-syllable) surname, with the independence activist Namgung Eok as its best-known figure.
A clan seated at Hamyeol in Iksan, North Jeolla, tracing to Namgung Won-cheong, said to have been enfeoffed as Count of Gammulah (Hamyeol) after driving back the Jurchen as a grand general in early Goryeo. It is known as Korea's most numerous compound (two-syllable) surname, with the independence activist Namgung Eok as its best-known figure. In the 2015 Census the 함열 남궁씨 clan numbered about 21,308 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 남궁, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 함열) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
Jipyeong-gong-pa, Seungji-gong-pa, Daeseongsa-gong-pa
The Jipyeong-gong branch is described in the Digital Dobong Encyclopedia as descending from Namgung Gae (b. 1517), a grandson of Namgung Chan and third son of Namgung Ik. He passed the licentiate exam in 1540 and served as magistrate of Jipyeong (hence the title), and his grave is in the clan's first burial ground in Dobong-dong, Seoul. The account says the seven branches formed as his descendants scattered across regions.
Branch lines and generations may differ by source and lineage; verify with your own jokbo.
The Seungji-gong branch is described in the Digital Dobong Encyclopedia as having Namgung Hoe (18th generation counting from the founder), a royal secretary, as its middle ancestor. His third son, Namgung Geup (b. 1577), a vice-minister of personnel, is regarded as founder of the Dobong lineage, said to have settled in Dobong-dong after the Imjin War; roughly 90% of Namgungs in the Dobong area are described as his descendants. The lineage is called the Seungji-gong Dobong clan association or the Yangju lineage.
Branch lines and generations may differ by source and lineage; verify with your own jokbo.
Some sources treat Namgung Chim, said to have served as head of the Sungkyunkwan (daeseongsa), as founder of the Daeseongsa-gong branch. Other accounts, such as Wikipedia's entry on Namgung Chim, do not mention this, so the founder cannot be settled.
Branch lines and generations may differ by source and lineage; verify with your own jokbo.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
남궁원청(Goryeo founder and grand general), 남궁민(Goryeo official), 남궁계(early Joseon official), 남궁찬(Joseon Gangwon governor), 남궁숙(Joseon governor), 남궁침(Joseon mayor of Hanseong), 남궁집(Joseon censor-general), 남궁옥(Joseon calligrapher), 남궁억(independence activist)
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The Hamyeol Namgung clan (咸悅 南宮氏) takes Hamyeol, in what is now Hamyeol-eup, Iksan, North Jeolla, as its seat and honors Namgung Won-cheong (南宮元淸) of early Goryeo as its founder. Sources say he was born in 961 in Gammulah county (the Hamyeol area), served as a palace secretary, and under King Seongjong, as a grand general, drove Jurchen raiders back beyond the Amnok River (or north of Baekdusan). He is said to have risen to Munha Sijung Pyeongjangsa and been enfeoffed as Count (baek) of Gammulah. Many sources date this to 991, while another gives 994, so dates differ by source. Gammulah was renamed Hamyeol under Silla's King Gyeongdeok, and Hamyeol is said to have become the clan seat from then on. Today the name lives on in Hamyeol-eup, Iksan.
The clan's ancestral-tablet stele names a Zhou-era figure, Namgung Su (南宮修), as the original ancestor, saying he came to Joseon with Gija and served as minister of education (sado). No detailed records support this, so it is best treated as legend.
Namgung (南宮) is a two-syllable compound surname and the most populous of its kind in Korea: 21,308 people in the 2015 census, ranked 91st among surnames (the second most common compound surname is Hwangbo). Chinese accounts say the name branched from the royal Ji (姬) clan of Zhou and was taken from living in the southern palace during the Shang era. The figure usually named as the remote ancestor is Namgung Gwal (南宮适), one of King Wen's four companions who is said to have helped found the Zhou dynasty; he is distinct from the Confucius disciple of the same name. No direct genealogical link to Korean Namgungs has been demonstrated.
Japanese surnames written with the same characters (said to originate in Iwate Prefecture) are unrelated to the Korean clan. It is also said that, because the name was mistaken for Japanese during the colonial era, many Namgungs escaped forced name changes.
Genealogical records after the founder were lost, so the clan counts from a later descendant, Namgung Deuk-hui (南宮得禧), as middle ancestor and first generation; the Digital Iksan Encyclopedia also writes the name as Deuk-ui, so even the spelling varies.
Generation numbers depend heavily on the counting basis. Wikipedia counts from Deuk-hui and calls Namgung Gye 6th, Namgung Chan 9th, Namgung Suk 10th and Namgung Chim 11th generation. A 2003 Gangwon Domin Ilbo article counts from the founder and gives Gye as 13th, Chan as 16th and Namgung Eok's father Namgung Yeong as 29th, a gap of about seven generations. Check your own generation against your family jokbo.
The 2015 census counted 21,308 people surnamed Namgung; sources that count Hamyeol Namgung specifically give 20,715 (the reason for the difference was not confirmed). By region the largest numbers are in Gyeonggi (6,858), Seoul (4,873), Incheon (1,985), Gangwon (1,526), North Jeolla (1,437), South Chungcheong (1,193) and Daejeon (804); Iksan itself has 534.
Well-known clan villages or home areas include the Hamyeol and Seongdang area of Iksan, the Dobong area of Seoul (Dobong-dong, Banghak-dong, Ssangmun-dong, Chang-dong), Mogok (Boriul) in Seo-myeon, Hongcheon, and Chuncheon in Gangwon, Cheongpyeong in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi, and Gongju and Buyeo in South Chungcheong. Settlements cluster inland and are rare on the coast. The Sinjeung Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam is said to list Namgung among the native surnames of Hamyeol county.
The central Goryeo figures are the founder and Namgung Min (南宮敏), great-grandson of Deuk-hui. He is said to have placed first in the civil examination in 1336 (a Gangwon newspaper says 1335) and to have ended his career as a remonstrance official (ganui). In 1347, when the Office for Political Reform was set up, he was named a reform official and surveyed households and land in Gyeongsang, but was reportedly flogged and disciplined after Yuan pressure over the arrest of pro-Yuan figures.
The same newspaper adds that the 9th-generation Namgung Sin served as Munhasirang Pyeongjangsa and was made a first-class meritorious subject for suppressing the 1342 Jo Jeok revolt; this could not be confirmed elsewhere and is given for reference only.
In early Joseon, Namgung Gye (南宮啓) entered office by hereditary privilege, was recorded as a third-class original meritorious subject in 1401, rose through posts such as mayor of Hanseong and Gyeongju under Sejong, reached vice-minister of the Jungchuwon, and died in 1446. It is surmised that the Dobong mountain area granted by Taejong became the basis for his descendants' settlement there.
Namgung Chan (南宮璨) topped the licentiate exam in 1477, passed the civil examination in 1489, served in the Hongmungwan and as magistrate of Jeju, and became Gangwon governor in 1504. His sons Namgung Ik (a county magistrate) and Namgung Suk (1491-1553, governor of Hwanghae, Jeolla and Hamgyeong), and grandson Namgung Chim (1513-1573, mayor of Hanseong and vice-minister of punishments) are said to have carried the family to prominence.
In the 17th century the brothers Namgung Jip (1601-1668) and Namgung Ok (1620-1699) are known. Jip served as inspector-general and censor-general and in 1660 submitted a memorial criticizing factional politics; Ok was famed for prose and calligraphy, especially fast writing. The Digital Iksan Encyclopedia counts 15 civil, 5 military and about 50 licentiate/classics-licentiate passers in Joseon.
The best-known modern figure is the independence activist Hanseo Namgung Eok (南宮檍, 1863-1939). He ran the Hwangseong Sinmun as president in 1898, organized the Daehan Hyeophoe in 1907, and in later life moved to Mogok in Hongcheon, where he founded a school and church and grew and spread rose of Sharon (mugunghwa) seedlings. He was imprisoned in the 1933 Sipjaga-dang (Cross Society) incident and died in 1939. Other modern figures such as the poet Namgung Byeok and the first National Assembly member Namgung Hyeon are mentioned in sources, but details were not confirmed.
The Digital Iksan and Digital Dobong encyclopedias list seven branches: Chambong-gong, Gyori-gong, Daeseongsa-gong, Jipyeong-gong, Yeonan-gong, Seungji-gong and Mohyeon-gong. Neither names the founder of each. What can be said: the Jipyeong-gong branch is described as descending from Namgung Gae (b. 1517), a grandson of Namgung Chan; the Seungji-gong branch has Namgung Hoe (18th generation from the founder) as middle ancestor, with the Dobong lineage descending from his third son Namgung Geup; and one source treats Namgung Chim as founder of the Daeseongsa-gong branch. Founders of the other branches could not be confirmed, and assignments differ by source, so verify with your jokbo or the head association.
In Seongdang-myeon, Iksan, stands the grave of Namgung Chan with stone figures, designated North Jeolla Tangible Cultural Heritage No. 176 (Namgung Chan mudeom seoksang). A hyoyeol-gak memorial shrine is said to stand at Docheon village, Geumma-myeon, Iksan. The Dobong-dong San 86 area in Seoul is known as the clan's burial ground, including the graves of Namgung Suk and Namgung Gae, and about 130,000 pyeong of Dobongsan land remains clan property. A monument to descendant Namgung Bok stands in Dobong Seowon, whose restoration his son Namgung Ryeon is said to have helped fund. In Mogok-ri, Hongcheon, are Namgung Eok's tomb and the Hanseo Namgung Eok Memorial Hall.
The Hamyeol Namgung head association (namgoong.or.kr) is active, and the Hwaam scholarship foundation, set up in 1997, gives yearly scholarships to descendants. Single-character given names following the five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) have been customary. Wikipedia's common generation table (counted from the middle ancestor) lists 30th Dong (東), 31st Gwang (光), 32nd Ju (珠), 33rd Jong (鍾), 34th Seung (承), 35th Eok (檍), 36th Hyeon (炫), 37th Yong (墉), 38th Ryeon (鍊), 39th Won (源), 40th Su (秀), 41st Myeong (明), 42nd Gi (基), 43rd Ok (鈺), 44th Yeong (永), though characters for the 35th-39th were garbled in the source and partly inferred. Practice varies by branch, so check your jokbo.
For other branch associations, see the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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