Cheon, also spelled Chon, is an uncommon

Korean surname A Korean name (Hangul: ; Hanja: ) consists of a family name followed by a given name, as used by the Korean people in both South Korea and North Korea. In the Korean language, ''ireum'' or ''seongmyeong'' usually refers to the family name (''seon ...

. It is written with either of two

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: * () meaning "thousand". This is the more common character, used as a surname by 103,811 people in 32,229 households in South Korea, according to the 2000 census. * (), meaning "heaven". The 2000 census found 8,416 people in 2,668 households who used this character to write their surname. In a study by the

National Institute of Korean Language The National Institute of Korean Language is a language regulator of the Korean language. It was created on January 23, 1991, by Presidential Decree No. 13163 (November 14, 1990). It is based in Seoul, South Korea. The institute was originally ...

based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 50% of people with this family name spelled it in Latin letters as Cheon in their passports, while 42% spelled it Chun, and 3.5% spelled it Chon. Rarer alternative spellings (the remaining 4.5%) included Choun and the Yale romanization Chen. People with this surname include:

Sportspeople

* Cheon Seong-tae (born 1943), South Korean rower * Cheon In-sik (born 1968), South Korean sprint canoer * Cheon Eun-suk (born 1969), South Korean basketball player * Cheon Hui-ju (born 1975), South Korean female speed skater * Cheon Ju-hyeon (born 1977), South Korean male speed skater * Cheon Min-ho (born 1987), South Korean sport shooter *

Cheon Seul-ki Cheon Seul-ki (born 28 January 1989) is a South Korean field hockey player. At the 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport e ...

(born 1989), South Korean field hockey player who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics *

Cheon Eun-bi Cheon Eun-bi (천은비, born 7 February 1992) is a South Korean field hockey player. She was part of the Korea women's national field hockey team in the women's hockey tournament at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics. She won a gold medal as a ...

(born 1992), South Korean field hockey player who competed at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics

Writers

* Cheon Sang-byeong (1930–1993), South Korean male poet *

Cheon Yang-hee Cheon Yanghui (, born January 21, 1942) is a South Korean poet, best known for her poetry collection ''Sorghum Field of the Heart'' (, 1994). Life Cheon Yanghui was born in Busan on 21 January 1942 as the youngest of seven children. Through ...

(born 1942), South Korean female poet * Cheon Myeong-kwan (born 1964), South Korean novelist *

Cheon Un-yeong Cheon Unyeong (, born 1971) is a modern South Korean writer. Life Cheon Unyeong was born in 1971 in Seoul, South Korea. She studied creative writing at Seoul Institute of the Arts, and graduated from Hanyang University with a B.A. in journalis ...

(born 1971), South Korean writer of short stories

Other

Taksu Cheon is a Japanese physicist notable for his work on quantum game theory and the foundations of quantum mechanics. Education He graduated from Kunitachi High School, in 1976. He obtained his BSc, 1980, his MSc, 1982, and PhD, under Akito Arima, 1985 ...

(born 1958), Japanese physicist *

Cheon Ho-jin Chun Ho-jin (born September 9, 1960) is a South Korean actor. Early life Chun studied chemistry at Inha University but dropped out to pursue acting. His father Chun Gyu-deok was among the first generation of professional wrestlers in the countr ...

(born 1960), South Korean actor *

Cheon Jinwoo Cheon Jinwoo is the H.G. Underwood Professor at Yonsei University and the Director of the Center for Nanomedicine, Institute for Basic Science (IBS). As a leading chemist in inorganic materials chemistry and nanomedicine Cheon and his group resea ...

(born 1962), South Korean professor of nanomedicine *

Cheon Ho-sun Cheon Ho-sun (born September 10, 1962 in Seoul), alternatively spelled Chun Ho-sun, is a South Korean politician. He has a bachelor's degree in sociology from Yonsei University Yonsei University (; ) is a private research university in Seou ...

(born 1962), South Korean politician *

Cheon, Jung Hee Cheon, Jung Hee is a South Korean cryptographer and mathematician whose research interest includes computational number theory, cryptography, and information security. He is one of the inventors of braid cryptography, one of group-based crypt ...

(born 1969), South Korean mathematician *

Cheon Jun-ho Cheon Jun-ho (Korean: 천준호; born 15 February 1971) is a South Korean politician who is currently the representative of the Gangbuk A constituency in the National Assembly of South Korea. He is a member of the Democratic Party of Korea. E ...

(born 1971), South Korean politician *

Mina Cheon Mina Cheon (born 1973) is a Korean American new media artist, scholar, and educator. Since 1997, she has been living between Baltimore, New York, and Seoul. Early life and education Cheon was born in Seoul, South Korea. Being the daughter of a S ...

(born 1973), South Korean-born American artist *

Cheon Jeong-myeong Chun Jung-myung (, born November 29, 1980) is a South Korean actor. Chun made his break into the entertainment industry in the KBS teen drama ''School 2'' (1999). He is best known for his leading roles in TV dramas such as '' Fashion 70's'' (200 ...

(born 1980), South Korean actor

References

{{surname Korean-language surnames

Sportspeople

Writers

Other

See also

References