Not being able to marry a person with the same
family name is a special burden in South Korea, where 22 percent of
South Korea's 44 million people are named Kim. The figure leaps to 55
percent after adding in Park, Lee, Choi and Chong.
Actually, although same-name marriages are frowned
upon, it is same-clan marriages that are legally banned, and it is
possible to have the same name, like Kim, but be from a different clan
or village. But nearly 40 percent of the population apparently comes
from one of three large clans: the Kim clan from a village called
Kimhae, the Lee clan from Chonju and the Park clan from Milyang.
For centuries, South Korea has had a law barring
couples with the same name and the same ancestral village from marrying.
Although this was probably originally conceived as a way of preventing
incest, it has developed into a strong ostracism of same-clan marriages.
Separately, there is a law against incest that prevents marriages
between relatives up to third cousins, but for purists that is not
enough.
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