나주 전씨(羅州 全氏) — A Jeon (全) seat named for Naju, South Jeolla, whose founder Jeon Gyeong is said to have served as Chief of the Seonggyungwan under King Chungryeol of Goryeo and been enfeoffed as Lord of Naseong.
A Jeon (全) seat named for Naju, South Jeolla, whose founder Jeon Gyeong is said to have served as Chief of the Seonggyungwan under King Chungryeol of Goryeo and been enfeoffed as Lord of Naseong. In the 2015 Census the 나주 전씨 clan numbered about 3,288 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 전, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 나주) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
The Naju Jeon clan (羅州 全氏) takes Naju, South Jeolla, as its seat. Called Balla-gun in Baekje, the place was named Naju in 940 and made a mok (provincial seat) in 983, and was the center of the Honam region in Goryeo and Joseon. The Jeon surname is said to have divided into 18 seats from the progenitor Jeon Seop, a Baekje merit subject under King Onjo; the Naju Jeon is described as a seat that split off from the Jeongseon Jeon.
The founder Jeon Gyeong (全卿) is given as the 30th-generation descendant of Jeon Seop, while Segye Ilbo and a genealogy institute count him as the 15th-generation descendant of Jeon I-gap. He is said to have served as Chief of the Seonggyungwan under King Chungryeol and to have been enfeoffed as Lord of Naseong for suppressing the rebellion of Jo Jeok. The date is given as 1332 (enfeoffment 1334) in some sources and 1341 in others.
Principal clan villages are listed in Gaepung and Bongsan (Hwanghae) and in Daedong and Yeongbyeon (South Pyongan), mostly in what is now North Korea. Statistics show 5,169 people in 2000 and 3,288 in the 2015 census (as cited by Wikipedia); Wikipedia also gives 17,687 for 1985, a large discrepancy whose cause we could not determine.
No sub-branches were confirmed in public sources. Wikipedia lists generation-name characters from the 23rd generation (Heung, 興) to the 32nd (Ju, 柱).
They include Jeon Bo-in, said to have been Magistrate of Naju under King Hyeonjong, Jeon Gi-dae, a Yeongjo-era scholar who submitted the Sipye cheoneonso, and Jeon Myeong-jo, first place in the 1740 Gaeseong special exam; Wikipedia also lists the musician Jeon Bong-cho and painter Jeon Hwa-hwang. Jeon Bo-in's era (11th century) does not fit a descendant of Jeon Gyeong, who served under Chungryeol, so sources must be treated as inconsistent; verify lineage in your jokbo. Six Joseon civil-exam graduates are counted.
No sub-branches confirmed in public sources
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
전경(founder), 전보인(Magistrate of Naju, said to be under Hyeonjong), 전기대(Yeongjo-era scholar), 전명조(first place, 1740 special exam)
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The Naju Jeon is said to have split off from the Jeongseon Jeon. The progenitor is Jeon Seop, and the brothers Jeon I-gap and Jeon Ui-gap, Goryeo founding merit subjects, are cited as common ancestors of several Jeon seats.
No official association website or contact, nor heritage sites (shrines, tombs, seowon), could be confirmed. The surname is written 全, unlike the Damyang Jeon (田).
Sources: Wikipedia, a Segye Ilbo clan feature, Korea Jokbo Institute and other public material. Conflicts between sources are noted.
The 나주 전씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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