Mok is a surname in various cultures. It may be a transcription of several

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the ...

s in their

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

or Teochew pronunciations, a Dutch surname, a

Hungarian surname Hungarian names include surnames and given names. Some people have more than one given name, but only one is normally used. In the Hungarian language, whether written or spoken, names are invariably given in the "Eastern name order", or family n ...

, or a Korean surname.

Origins

Mok may transcribe the pronunciation, in different

varieties of Chinese Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...

, of some

s spelled as Mo or Mu in Pinyin (which reflects the

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

pronunciation), including: *Mò (), spelled Mok based on its pronunciation in Cantonese ( zh, cy=Mohk, j=Mok6; IPA: ) or Teochew (

Peng'im (: ( Teochew) (Swatow), : or , : or ) is a Teochew dialect romanisation system as a part of Guangdong Romanisation published by Guangdong Provincial Education Department in 1960. Tone of this system is based on Swatow dialect. The system ...

: ; IPA: ). Additionally see *Mù (), homophonous with the first surname above in Teochew. According to

Patrick Hanks Patrick Hanks (born 24 March 1940) is an English lexicographer, corpus linguist, and onomastician. He has edited dictionaries of general language, as well as dictionaries of personal names. Background Hanks was educated at Ardingly College, ...

, some Cantonese speakers in the United Kingdom and the United States also spell this name as Mok, though Muk is probably a more common transcription of the Cantonese pronunciation ( zh, links=no, cy=Muhk, j=Muk6; IPA: ). *Mù (), homophonous with the first surname above in Teochew. *Mù (), homophonous with the first surname above in Teochew. The Dutch surname Mok is a variant spelling of Mock. The surname Mock might have originated from Moch, a clipping of

Mochel A ( he, מוֹהֵל , Ashkenazi pronunciation , plural: , arc, מוֹהֲלָא , "circumciser") is a Jew trained in the practice of , the "covenant of circumcision". Etymology The noun ( in Aramaic), meaning "circumciser", is derived from ...

. The

Mók was originally a given name. That given name might be a

hypocorism A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as ''Izzy'' for I ...

of Mózes, which is the Hungarian form of the given names Moises or

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

. There is only one

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 ...

used to write the modern Korean surname Mok: (; ), meaning "harmonious". The bearers of this surname are almost all members of the . That clan is so named for its '' bon-gwan'' (clan hometown) of Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, a city which became part of

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

after the division of the Korean peninsula. Its members claim descent from , an official under Gojong of Goryeo. Historically, another hanja meaning "tree" (; ) had also been used as a surname by the Mok clan of

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...

, but this surname is no longer extant in the Korean peninsula.

Statistics

In the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, there were 421 people with the surname Mok as of 2007, up from 112 in 1947. The 2000 South Korean Census found 8,191 people in 2,493 households with the surname Mok; all but ten of those people stated that they were members of the Sacheon Mok clan. According to statistics cited by Patrick Hanks, there were 450 people on the island of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and nine on the island of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

with the surname Mok as of 2011; no bearers of the surname were recorded in Great Britain in 1881. The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

found 2,707 people with the surname Mok, making it the 11,597th-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase from 2,134 (13,137th-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, about nine-tenths of the bearers of the surname identified as

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

, and five percent as

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

People

Cambodian surname

Mok Mareth Mok Mareth ( km, ម៉ុក ម៉ារ៉េត; born 20 January 1944) is a Cambodian politician and former Minister of the Environment. He was born in Rumchang, Samraŏng District, Takéo Province, Cambodia. Political career Mareth was ...

(; born 1948), Cambodian politician *

Theavy Mok Theavy Mok ( km, ម៉ុក ធាវី; born April 3, 1963) is the first plastic surgeon in Cambodia. He received his medical doctorate in 1990 from the University of Health Sciences, Phnom Penh. Since then he has worked in the general surge ...

(; born 1963), Cambodian plastic surgeon

Chinese surname

* Mok Kwai-lan (; 1892–1982), fourth spouse of Lingnan martial arts grandmaster Wong Fei-hung *

Mok Chun Wah Mok Chun Wah (also transliterated as Mok Chun Wa, born 5 May 1929) is a former professional footballer. Born in British Hong Kong to ethnic Chinese parents, Mok represented the Republic of China (Taiwan) and spending his whole professional caree ...

(; born 1929), Hong Kong footballer * Mok Cheuk Wing (; born 1949), Hong Kong judo athlete *

Mok Ying-fan Mok Ying-fan (born 15 January 1951, Hong Kong) is the member of the Wong Tai Sin District Council (1985–91, 1994–2015) representing Tung Mei. He was the also member of the Urban Council (1989–99) and the member of Legislative Council (19 ...

(; born 1951), Hong Kong politician *

Ngaiming Mok Ngaiming Mok (; born 1956) is a Hong Kong mathematician specializing in complex differential geometry and algebraic geometry. He is currently a professor at the University of Hong Kong. After graduating from St. Paul's Co-educational College in ...

(; born 1956), Hong Kong mathematician *

Warren Mok Warren Mok () is a Hong Kong-based Macau operatic tenor who has performed many leading roles since his European debut in 1987 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has a repertoire of 50 operatic roles, including Calaf in ''Turandot'', Cavaradossi in ''T ...

(; born 1958), Macau operatic tenor *

Max Mok Max Mok ( zh, t=莫少聰; born 2 December 1962 in Hong Kong; also credited as Benny Mok, Benny Mok Siu-chung and Max Mok Siu-chung) is a Hong Kong actor and singer. Mok was recruited by the Shaw Brothers Studio and has been a major film star si ...

(; born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Mok Ka Sha (; born 1962), Hong Kong table tennis player *

Charles Mok Charles Peter Mok, JP (born 1964 in Hong Kong) is a Hong Kong-based Internet entrepreneur and IT advocate who formerly represents the Information Technology functional constituency on the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Mok founded HKNet in ...

(; born 1964), Hong Kong internet entrepreneur and politician * Hoyan Mok (; born 1969), Hong Kong actress who won the 1993 Miss Hong Kong Pageant *

Karen Mok Karen Mok (born Karen Joy Morris (), 2 June 1970) is a Hong Kong pop diva who is one of the leading Asian pop singers and actresses with a career spanning three decades. She is the first female Hong Kong singer to win the Golden Melody Award and ...

(; born 1970), Hong Kong actress and pop singer * Patricia Mok (; born 1971), Singaporean actress *

Rosanda Mok Rosanda Mok Ka-han (; born 23 May 1972) is a Democratic Party politician in Hong Kong and a member of Wong Tai Sin District. She is the former chairman of the pro-democracy pro-grassroots Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People's Livelihoo ...

(; born 1972), Hong Kong politician *

Zandra Mok Zandra Mok Yee-tuen ( ; born 23 August 1970) is one of the first political assistants appointed by the Government of Hong Kong in 2008. She was re-appointed as the political assistant to the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, to assume office on 13 ...

(; born 1973), Hong Kong television reporter and politician * Monica Mok (; born 1983), Beijing-born Australian actress *

Mok Ying Ren Dr. Mok Ying Ren (born 6 July 1988) is a triathlete and long-distance runner from Singapore. His best performances include a SEA Games gold medal in 2007 in the triathlon event, as well as a gold medal in the marathon event in 2013. He held the n ...

(; born 1988), Singaporean triathlete and long-distance runner * Mok Hing Ling (), Chinese modern ink painter *

May Mok May Mok Mei-Wah () is a Hong Kong award-winning sound effects Sound editor (filmmaking), editor, who also specializes in Audio mixing (recorded music), sound mixing, sound design, and Advanced Digital Recording, ADR recording.Philip Mok (), Hong Kong professor of electrical engineering

Korean surname

* Mok Jin-seok (; born 1980), South Korean Go player * Mok Un-ju (born 1981), North Korean gymnast *

Yebin Mok Yebin Mok (born April 19, 1984) is an American former competitive figure skater. She is the 2002 Golden Spin of Zagreb silver medalist, won two bronze medals on the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit, and placed fifth at the 2003 World Junior Champi ...

(born 1984), South Korean-born American figure skater

Other or unknown

* Abraham Mok (1888–1944), Dutch gymnast murdered in the Holocaust *

Jack Mok Jack Mok (born 1 February 1935) is a South African rower. He competed in the men's coxless four event at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olym ...

(born 1935), South African rower * Clement Mok (born 1958), Canadian graphic designer *

Ken Mok Ken Mok is a television producer, and also the founder and president of 10x10 Entertainment, a production company which produces television, film and alternative media. Among the television projects being produced under the 10x10 banner are the ...

(born 1961), American television producer *

Al Mok Aloysius "Al" Mok is an American computer scientist, currently the Quincy Lee Centennial Professor at University of Texas at Austin, and also a published author. References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of ...

, American computer scientist *

Desmond Mok Desmond or Desmond's may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Desmond'' (novel), 1792 novel by Charlotte Turner Smith * ''Desmond's'', 1990s British television sitcom Ireland * Kingdom of Desmond, medieval Irish kingdom * Earl of Desmond, Irish a ...

, Papua New Guinean rugby league player *

Judith Mok Judith Mok is a Dutch soprano, author and poet, who lives in Ireland and has released novels and many articles in English. Biography Judith Mok was born in Bergen, North Holland. After graduating from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague at a ve ...

, Dutch soprano

References

{{reflist

External links

Mok
on the "Genealogy" section of DutchJewry.org Chinese-language surnames Dutch-language surnames Hungarian-language surnames Korean-language surnames Jewish surnames Multiple Chinese surnames Cantonese-language surnames