A Sociolinguistic Study on Korean Names of Immigrants in Korean Society

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to find out factors that immigrants settling in Korean society decide their names and the social value of their names. In order to accomplish this, an online survey was conducted from August 1 to 5, 2022 to collect a total of 80 valid questionnaires, and a phone interview was conducted to complement its shortcomings. Results of the study are summarized as follows. First, as a result of examining the immigrants’ names by word types, they were found in the order of Chinese character words, loanwords, and mixed words. Second, the meanings immigrants wanted to include in their names was in the order of appearances, attitudes of life, ability and success, and luck and grace. Third, those who named the immigrants appeared in the order of parents, spouses, myself, or parents-in-law, acquaintances, relatives and grandparents. This study can be said to be of great significance in that it is possible to grasp one aspect of the language culture that immigrants are building in their lives by examining sociolinguistic characteristics of their names in Korean society.