파주 염씨(坡州 廉氏) — The representative seat of the Yeom surname, said to cover most Yeom; it traces to the Goryeo founding merit subject Yeom Hyeong-myeong and rose greatly under the mid-founding ancestor Yeom Je-sin.
The representative seat of the Yeom surname, said to cover most Yeom; it traces to the Goryeo founding merit subject Yeom Hyeong-myeong and rose greatly under the mid-founding ancestor Yeom Je-sin. In the 2015 Census the 파주 염씨 clan numbered about 57,531 people, one of Korea's major surnames and clans. Even among people surnamed 염, a different clan seat (bon-gwan, 파주) means a different lineage. New to these terms? See the bon-gwan, pa & hangnyeol guide.
The Paju Yeom clan (坡州 廉氏) has its seat in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and accounts for nearly all of the Yeom (廉) surname. Wikipedia counts, in the 2015 Statistics Korea census, 57,531 Paju Yeom plus 5,515 Papyeong Yeom, 205 Seowon Yeom and 99 Gokseong Yeom, totaling 63,350, and gives 69,387 for the entire Yeom surname. Another seat, Yongdam Yeom, is counted separately (2,715). Clan and local newspaper sources say that some 70 other seats such as Gaeseong, Gwangju, Yangju and Chungju are merely settlement names or ancestral estates of the Paju Yeom, so it is a single-seat clan, but whether this claim has been scholarly verified could not be confirmed.
The founder Yeom Hyeong-myeong (廉邢明) is said to have served as Minister of Education (sado) under Taejo of Goryeo and been recorded as a Samhan Byeoksang merit subject. Clan sources say he was a Minister of Revenue in China who fled the unrest of late Silla and settled at Bongseong (today's Paju); this is family tradition and should be read as distinct from fact. For the more remote origin, one theory takes Yeomsachi (Yeomsachak), a chief of Yeomsa, a small Mahan polity, as the clan's first bearer of the name: the Weilue quoted in the Wei Zhi says he went over to Lelang Commandery and was granted land and a house, while the Book of the Later Han says a Yeomsa man named Somasi presented tribute to Emperor Guangwu and was enfeoffed. Meanwhile Jo Yeo-jeok's Cheonghakjip of the Seonjo era says the Yeom came from the Daebang state (Hwanghae and northwest Gyeonggi), so the accounts do not converge.
After the founder the line is outlined as Wi, Ga-ching, Hyeon, Han and then the 6th-generation Deok-bang. The 7th-generation Yeom Sin-yak rose to Jeongdang Munhak and Minister of Rites, opening the clan's rise as an aristocratic house, and under King Chungnyeol Yeom Seung-ik held power as a Heungbeop Jwari merit subject and chief minister. In early Goryeo the name of the second-class founding merit subject Yeom Sang also appears. The one who raised the house again was the mid-founding ancestor Yeom Je-sin (1304-1382), who studied in Yuan China, became Munha Sijung under King Gongmin and was enfeoffed as Prince Gokseong; his portrait, said to have been painted by Gongmin himself, is Treasure No. 1097. His daughter Sinbi Yeom became a consort of Gongmin, and his three sons Yeom Guk-bo, Yeom Heung-bang and Yeom Jeong-su founded the Gukpa-gong, Dongjeong-gong and Cheonggang-gong branches.
Six years after Yeom Je-sin's death, in 1388, Yeom Heung-bang's land seizures with the Yi In-im and Im Gyeon-mi faction and his framing of Jo Ban came to light and he was purged by the Choe Yeong and Yi Seong-gye faction; his brother Yeom Jeong-su and other relatives suffered. The family declined sharply, and is said to have produced few figures in early Joseon. Namuwiki also introduces the reading that, because they would not abandon loyalty to Goryeo, their standing at the Joseon court narrowed. Descendants are said to have scattered to Sangju, Pungdeok, Boseong, Naju, Imsil and elsewhere.
The occasion for the clan's renewed fame was the Imjin War (the second invasion). The father-and-brothers Yeom Geol, Yeom Seo, Yeom Gyeong and Yeom Hong-rip raised a righteous army at Gangjin and fell fighting under Yi Sun-sin, called the 'Four Loyal,' and Yeom Mal-gyeong, Yeom Eon-sang and others were also recorded as Seonmu Wonjong merit subjects. The mother of King Cheoljong, Lady Yongseong, is said to have come from the Yongdam Yeom, and in the modern era came the novelist Yeom Sang-seop, Cardinal Yeom Su-jeong, educator Yeom Jae-ho and politicians Yeom Tae-yeong and Yeom Hong-cheol.
Gukpa-gong-pa, Dongjeong-gong-pa, Cheonggang-gong-pa
The Gukpa-gong branch takes as founder Yeom Guk-bo, eldest son of the mid-founding ancestor Yeom Je-sin. Yeom Guk-bo, pen name Gukpa (菊坡), passed the civil examination in 1355, rose to Grand Academician of the Yemun-gwan and Prince Seoseong, and is said to have served several times as chief examiner.
The brothers Yeom Gong-geo and Yeom Baek-geo, who settled in Gahak-dong, Gwangmyeong, are described as descendants of this line, and there is a newspaper article on a Gukpa-gong head house in Naju. Namuwiki lists Cardinal Yeom Su-jeong and baseball manager Yeom Gyeong-yeop under this branch. Please check finer divisions with a genealogy.
The Dongjeong-gong branch takes as founder Yeom Heung-bang, second son of Yeom Je-sin. Yeom Heung-bang, pen name Dongjeong (東亭), placed first in the 1357 examination and was enfeoffed as Prince Seoseong, but was executed in the Musin purge of 1388.
His son Gak (4th generation) went down to Imsil and settled around Imsil, Namwon and Naju, and some descendants moved up to Gyoha in Paju and to Yeoncheon and Jeokseong in mid-Joseon. The novelist Yeom Sang-seop is listed under this branch (Namuwiki).
The Cheonggang-gong branch takes as founder Yeom Jeong-su, third son of Yeom Je-sin. Yeom Jeong-su, pen name Hwonjeong (萱庭), passed the examination in 1371, rose to Grand Academician and is said to have left a collected works, the Hwonjeongjip, but was executed with his brother Yeom Heung-bang in 1388.
The branch's settlements and notable descendants were not found with sources in this research. Wikipedia and Namuwiki count it as one of the three branches under the mid-founding ancestor.
Branch divisions vary by lineage and jokbo; confirm your own branch in your family's records.
염형명(founder, Minister of Education and Samhan Byeoksang merit subject under Taejo of Goryeo), 염상(second-class founding merit subject of Goryeo), 염신약(mid-Goryeo Jeongdang Munhak), 염승익(Heungbeop Jwari merit subject and chief minister under Chungnyeol), 염제신(mid-founding ancestor, Munha Sijung and Prince Gokseong), 염국보(founder of Gukpa-gong, Grand Academician), 염흥방(founder of Dongjeong-gong, executed in 1388), 염정수(founder of Cheonggang-gong, Grand Academician), 신비 염씨(consort of King Gongmin), 염걸(righteous army leader at Gangjin, one of the Four Loyal), 염상섭(novelist, Mansejeon and Samdae), 염수정(cardinal, former archbishop of Seoul), 염재호(19th president of Korea University), 염태영(three-term mayor of Suwon, National Assemblyman), 염홍철(mayor of Daejeon)
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Wikipedia explains the seat as changing from Bongseong (峰城) to Gokseong (曲城), Seowon (瑞原) and then Paju. The clan first took Bongseong, where the founder lived; in 1354 (the third year of King Gongmin), when Yeom Je-sin was enfeoffed as Prince Gokseong, it became Gokseong; it became Seowon when the place name changed; and when the place name was fixed as Paju in Joseon, it became today's Paju Yeom. The old names of Paju are said to begin with Pahaepyeongsa-hyeon and Suriheol-hyeon in Goguryeo, becoming Papyeong-hyeon and Bongseong-hyeon under King Gyeongdeok of Silla, with Bongseong becoming Seowon-hyeon in 1387. For this reason Papyeong, Seowon and Gokseong Yeom are counted separately but seen as the same line. The timing and title of the Gokseong enfeoffment (Count/Prince) are written slightly differently across sources.
Wikipedia and Namuwiki list three branches under the mid-founding ancestor Yeom Je-sin: Gukpa-gong (founder Yeom Guk-bo), Dongjeong-gong (founder Yeom Heung-bang) and Cheonggang-gong (founder Yeom Jeong-su). Namuwiki places Cardinal Yeom Su-jeong and baseball manager Yeom Gyeong-yeop under Gukpa-gong and Yeom Sang-seop under Dongjeong-gong. No sourced finer sub-branches were found in this research, so please check with a genealogy.
The Wikipedia infobox lists settlements at Yuljeon-dong in Jangan District, Suwon; Imdang-ri, Dong-myeon, Yanggu; Mundeok-myeon, Boseong; Woncheon-ri, Sinpyeong-myeon, Imsil; Yongchon-ri, Annae-myeon, Okcheon; Pyeonggok-ri, Eumseong-eup, Eumseong; Seji-myeon, Naju; and Danchon and Hongwon in South Hamgyeong. A culture newspaper says Yeom Je-sin's 5th-generation descendants divided into Sangju, Pungdeok, Boseong and Naju, and Yeom Heung-bang's son Gak went down to Imsil and settled around Imsil, Namwon and Naju. Among Dongjeong-gong descendants, the 10th-generation Heung-seo moved up to Gasa-ri, Gyoha-bukmyeon, Paju in mid-Joseon, his grandson Hyo-dal settled in Buk-myeon, Yeoncheon, and the 14th-generation Ui-man (1730-1801) at Eoyu-ji-ri, Jeokseong. The brothers Yeom Gong-geo and Yeom Baek-geo of Gukpa-gong are said to have settled at Jangteo-mal in Gahak-dong, Gwangmyeong, in the late Goryeo-early Joseon period, and in Naju stands Chunggyeong Seowon, which enshrines Yeom Je-sin.
A culture newspaper says that in the Imjin War Yeom Mal-gyeong raised volunteers at Okcheon and defeated Japanese troops, and Yeom Eon-sang died in service at the Chupungnyeong battle under Yi Sun-sin. Under Japanese rule, Yeom Seok-san raised a righteous army at Hongseong in 1905, Yeom Jung-hui led a righteous army movement, Yeom Seung-pil led a March First demonstration in Nonsan, and Yeom On-dong, Yeom Heung-mi and Yeom Jae-hang are said to have been active in the Korean Liberation Army. Whether they received independence-merit awards was not confirmed in this research.
Yeom Je-sin's portrait (Treasure No. 1097) is described as kept as a deposit at the National Museum of Korea, while his tomb and spirit-way stele are in the Jangdan area (now north of the armistice line) and are hard to visit. In Chillyang-myeon, Gangjin, there is the Sachung tomb enshrining Yeom Geol and the other 'Four Loyal' (South Jeolla monument, designated 1978), and in Ganghwa a house in Naengjeong-ri where King Cheoljong's maternal uncle Yeom Bo-gil lived (local cultural property No. 8) is mentioned. Please check location and opening with the relevant institution before visiting.
In the 1985 census the Paju Yeom are given as 12,099 households and 51,143 people (a clan association gives 51,189, so sources differ slightly). The 2000 census gives 16,628 households and 53,539 people, and the 2015 census gives 57,531. Adding Papyeong, Seowon and Gokseong Yeom gives 63,350, and the whole Yeom surname is given as 69,387, ranked about 60th-61st among surnames.
The common generation-name table is organized from the 16th to 32nd generation; for example the 16th generation uses Sang (相) or Jin (振), the 18th Jae (在), Jeong (廷) or Jang (章), the 21st Dong (東) or Byeong (秉), the 23rd Gyu (圭), Gi (基), Sa (思) or Si (時), and the 25th Cheol, Tae (泰) or Sun (淳). Some characters could not be confirmed because of garbled entries in the source, and actual use varies by lineage and region, so be sure to check against your own family genealogy.
A clan association site (Paju Yeom Internet Genealogy) is known to operate, but its security certificate prevented direct viewing this time. Contact details and the exact name of the head association were not confirmed, so please ask the clan.
Apart from Yeom (廉), the village-gate Yeom (閻) is counted separately at 24 people in 2015. Please check your genealogy to see whether your seat is Paju or Yongdam. The Yongdam Yeom have their seat at Yongdam-ri, Yeoju, and King Cheoljong's mother, Lady Yongseong, is said to have come from this family.
The 파주 염씨 clan association can be found in the Korean E-Jokbo Library clan-association directory.
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