Founding ancestor of the Namyang Hong clan (Danghong line)
| Era | 고려 초 |
| Clan | 남양 홍씨 |
Hong Eun-yeol (洪殷悅) is honored as the first-generation ancestor of the Danghong line of the Namyang Hong clan. According to clan records he helped King Taejo found Goryeo as a founding merit subject and rose to the rank of Samjung Daegwang Taesa. Namyang, around present-day Namyang-eup in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, became the clan seat of his descendants.
Danghong genealogies trace the line further back to Hong Cheon-ha, said to be one of the "Eight Scholars" of Tang China. Tradition holds that he came to Goguryeo under King Yeongnyu to teach Confucian learning, moved to Silla to escape Yeon Gaesomun's coup, and was enfeoffed as Earl of Dangseong for advancing Confucian learning under Queen Seondeok. Because the generations after him cannot be verified, the clan counts Hong Eun-yeol, said to be his descendant, as its first generation.
The name Hong Eun-yeol does not appear in official histories such as the Goryeosa, so some identify him with the founding merit subject Hong Yu (洪儒), originally named Hong Sul, who received the surname Hong from King Taejo and rose to the same high rank.
The Namyang Hong include both the Danghong line and the Tohong line, which honors Hong Seon-haeng, a native gentry official of the Goryeo period, as its founder; most of today's members are Danghong. Within the Danghong line, early branches split off in the 3rd, 4th and 6th generations, and the descendants of 7th-generation Hong Ji-yu divided into thirteen branches in the 13th generation, for sixteen in all. In the Joseon period the line is said to have produced 293 civil-examination graduates, eight state councillors, two chief scholars, three officials honored for integrity, one queen and four royal sons-in-law.
The geography section of the Annals of King Sejong lists Hong first among the native surnames of Namyang, showing the long bond between the clan and the place. The Danghong line is also said to have produced one queen and two royal consorts in the Goryeo period.
It produced Ministers of Letters and State Councillors and the Silhak scholar Hong Dae-yong in the Joseon period.