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[thread]since army recently made korean news on their interest to learn more about korean culture and history, here’s a thread on BTS’s FAMILY LINEAGE, HISTORY AND IMPORTANT PEOPLE RELATED TO THEM
![[thread]since army recently made korean news on their interest to learn more about korean culture and history, here’s a thread on BTS’s FAMILY LINEAGE, HISTORY AND IMPORTANT PEOPLE RELATED TO THEM](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D68-a2vWwAEapjF.jpg "[thread]since army recently made korean news on their interest to learn more about korean culture and history, here’s a thread on BTS’s FAMILY LINEAGE, HISTORY AND IMPORTANT PEOPLE RELATED TO THEM")
![[thread]since army recently made korean news on their interest to learn more about korean culture and history, here’s a thread on BTS’s FAMILY LINEAGE, HISTORY AND IMPORTANT PEOPLE RELATED TO THEM](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D68-a2xXoAA5ZUl.jpg "[thread]since army recently made korean news on their interest to learn more about korean culture and history, here’s a thread on BTS’s FAMILY LINEAGE, HISTORY AND IMPORTANT PEOPLE RELATED TO THEM")
(DISCLAIMER) this is research done by me. im not a native korean speaker so im sure that i missed some of the more complex info. im passionate about learning about foreign cultures and i love these types of threads, so i decided to share!
FOREWORD 1
in a world of 23&me and myheritage, it’s really interesting to me that most koreans know where they come from. have you ever wondered why there are so many kims? that’s because not all kims are related. these differences come from their “clans”.
in a world of 23&me and myheritage, it’s really interesting to me that most koreans know where they come from. have you ever wondered why there are so many kims? that’s because not all kims are related. these differences come from their “clans”.
FOREWORD 2 kim, the most common korean last name, usually comes from 金 - meaning gold. as many families wanted characters with good meaning, they usually chose similar ones. to distinguish between all those who wanted, for example, “gold” as their last name, clans were made.
kim, the most common korean last name, usually comes from 金 - meaning gold. as many families wanted characters with good meaning, they usually chose similar ones. to distinguish between all those who wanted, for example, “gold” as their last name, clans were made.
FOREWORD 3 i stumbled upon a post made by korean army, listing bts’s clan names (some are confirmed by bts themselves, like joon’s, jin’s, tae’s and yoongi’s) and some are reported by their fellow clan members who have seen bts in their clan register or at clan meetings.
i stumbled upon a post made by korean army, listing bts’s clan names (some are confirmed by bts themselves, like joon’s, jin’s, tae’s and yoongi’s) and some are reported by their fellow clan members who have seen bts in their clan register or at clan meetings.
JIN 
V first of all, yes! they come from the same clan, meaning they shared a common ancestor once. both of them are kwangsan kims (kwangsan being their clan name). they were known as an intellectual family during the joseon era. they were known for the rare accomplishement
V first of all, yes! they come from the same clan, meaning they shared a common ancestor once. both of them are kwangsan kims (kwangsan being their clan name). they were known as an intellectual family during the joseon era. they were known for the rare accomplishement
of having produced 2 generations of munmyobaehyang (“sage scholars”), which was VERY rare. kwangsan kims share a common ancestor - heungkwang, son of king shinmoo of silla (one of the 3 kingdoms of korea before they were unified).
as the kwangsan kims were well-respected, they even produced a queen. this means that seokjin and taehyung are related to queen ingyeong, consort of king sukjong of joseon. this is why in run bts ep. 63, jin says his family is royal (he’s not joking).
RM even though joon’s last name is also kim, he is completely unrelated to seokjin and taehyung, as he is a kangneung kim. kangneung kims trace their ancestry back to kim juwon, one of the sons of king 태종무열, who unified the 3 kingdoms of baekje, goryeo and silla into 1.
even though joon’s last name is also kim, he is completely unrelated to seokjin and taehyung, as he is a kangneung kim. kangneung kims trace their ancestry back to kim juwon, one of the sons of king 태종무열, who unified the 3 kingdoms of baekje, goryeo and silla into 1.
in fact, joon’s distant ancestor, kim juwon, was supposed to ascend to the throne as king. however, he couldn’t ascend to the throne due to the heavy rainstorms happening at that time. korean kings were supposed to hold the “sky mandate”, and disastrous natural phenomena
such as heavy rainfall were seen as a bad omen, indicating that the sky god did not agree with the newly chosen king. thus, kim juwon could not ascend to the throne. ps, joon is mentioned as one of the members of this family officially in their clan register.
SUGA suga’s family is by far the most impressive. in fact, when i was researching him, i found a few korean articles listing him as one of the idols with the rarest surname. (article name: male idols with unique last names... bts’s suga (min yoongi)....)
suga’s family is by far the most impressive. in fact, when i was researching him, i found a few korean articles listing him as one of the idols with the rarest surname. (article name: male idols with unique last names... bts’s suga (min yoongi)....)
yoongi is a yeoheung min. yeoheung mins come from min chingdo, who was a chinese emissary sent to korea by the song dynasty. he was a descendant of min sun, one of confucius’s pupils. min sun was one of the 24 confucian paragons of filial piety (there’s a whole wiki page on them)
the yeoheung mins are VERY impressive, producing 2 queens - queen wongyeong, consort of king king taejong and queen inhyeon, consort of king sukjong. sound familiar? its because inhyeon was his second wife, his first being queen ingyeong, who was a kwangsan kim - like jin and v!
not just this, but the first and last empresses of the empire of korea were yeoheung mins!! empress myeongseong, consort of the first emperor, gojong of korea, and empress sunmyeong, consort of the last emperor, sunjong of korea.
the yeoheung mins were not seen positively by the masses, since the empresses used their power to install members of their families in high positions. after the japanese killed the imperial family, the yeoheung mins lost their influence.
JHOPE hoseok is the only one who’s clan isn’t known 100%, as ive seen him called both a hadong jung and a dongnae jung. so let’s investigate both! hadong jungs trace their lineage back to jung dojung, and produced one scholar during the joseon era.
hoseok is the only one who’s clan isn’t known 100%, as ive seen him called both a hadong jung and a dongnae jung. so let’s investigate both! hadong jungs trace their lineage back to jung dojung, and produced one scholar during the joseon era.
dongnae jungs have a few more famous people in their ranks - jung hae, who worked for the royal family, although stated as “poor”, jung seo, a famous writer of the goryeo kingdom (pre-unified korea), jung goo, a subordinate of the ministry of education in the 14th century
and jung taehwa, a naval general (??) in the 17th century. there doesnt seem to be much info about either of these jung clans though, so it was quite hard to research hoseok’s lineage. 
JIMIN jimin is a miryang park, which is the second biggest clan in ALL of korea, second only to the geumhae kims (theres a LOT of geumhae kims). miryang parks are an old clan, first being attested in 69 BC (for reference, thats before julius caeser ruled the roman empire)
jimin is a miryang park, which is the second biggest clan in ALL of korea, second only to the geumhae kims (theres a LOT of geumhae kims). miryang parks are an old clan, first being attested in 69 BC (for reference, thats before julius caeser ruled the roman empire)
the miryang clan was established by park eonchim, a son of king kyeongmyeong of silla. since theyre so old, they have an origin story (think ancient greek mythology) which is QUITE weird - involves a white horse, a “magical” green light and a boy hatching out of an egg??
however!! not all miryang parks are real miryang parks. this clan was tightly associated with the royal family, producing consorts for kings, servants, writers, etc. being associated with the royal family, even as a servant, was VERY influential. thus, during the late joseon era,
when people were forced to pick a last name by law, a lot of people chose to become miryang parks, as that would associate them with the royals. the miryang parks have a LOT of branches in their clan, so i cant know if he is one of the 69 BC parks or the late joseon parks.
JUNGKOOK he’s a damyang jeon, this clan being founded by jeon deukshi. during the reign of king gongmin, the ancestor of jeon deukshi, referred to as nokseng, was a famous poet and skilled martial artist, a renaissance man of his time. there’s not much info on them :(
he’s a damyang jeon, this clan being founded by jeon deukshi. during the reign of king gongmin, the ancestor of jeon deukshi, referred to as nokseng, was a famous poet and skilled martial artist, a renaissance man of his time. there’s not much info on them :(
pls dont let this flop 
also, clans have separate branches, which is why, for example, even tho jin and tae are both kwangsan kims, only jin mentions himself being of royal descent, meaning his branch is closer to queen ingyeong than tae’s.
also, clans have separate branches, which is why, for example, even tho jin and tae are both kwangsan kims, only jin mentions himself being of royal descent, meaning his branch is closer to queen ingyeong than tae’s.
everyone’s going 
razy bcause of yoongi and asking why hes not rich/influential so heres me trying to explain that
razy bcause of yoongi and asking why hes not rich/influential so heres me trying to explain that
its been more than a year since i made this thread so lemme bring back some more info!
none of the members could actually belong to these clans in terms of blood 
crazy! i know, but lemme explain
crazy! i know, but lemme explain
surnames were very much a “luxury” until 1910ish. at the beginning of the 20th century there was a huge increase in the mercantile class, who were not aristocrats but had plenty of money. on the other hand, a lot of aristocratic families were dying off bcause they were unwilling
to change up their patterns. what happened at the beginning of the 20th century was a phenomenon of “surname purchasing” were people with money could “buy” their way into a noble family (which is why there are so many kims, lees and parks - the families considered most desirable)
people would purchase the genealogical books of poor aristocrats, thus attributing their history to their own. they could pay for someone to write their name into the family book too. this was a very common thing.
this is what i reference in jimins section where i say we cant know if hes a 69 BC park or a 1910s park. it very well could b that jimin is a “true” park, descendant of those old 69BC parks, or NOT
its very possible that they could have had no surnames (it was common to not have any) and only “buy” their way in later. another option, tho rare, was to have a family name assigned to u by the king for being in his favor.
