Mun

Korean: there are two Chinese characters for the surname Mun. Although some records indicate that there are as many as 131 Mun clans, only three can be traced. The founding ancestor of the oldest of these, the Namp’yŏng Mun clan, was named Mun Ta-sŏng and was born in 472. According to legend, he was found by Shilla King Chabi Maripkan in a stone box at the end of a rainbow by a lotus pond. The Chinese character Mun was inscribed in the box, so the king gave that as a surname to the child. The founders of the other two Mun clans were originally named Cha and Kim, but after studying in China they changed their names to Mun (the Chinese character Mun means ‘writing’ or ‘literature’).