  The family name distribution in Korea is investigated in comparison with
previous studies in other countries. In Korea, both the family name and its
birthplace, where the ancestor of the family originated, are commonly used to
distinguish one family name from the others. The family name distributions with
and without the information of the regional origins are analyzed by using
different data sets of various sizes, and compared with previous studies
performed in other countries. The growth rate of the family is empirically
obtained. Contrary to commonly used assumptions, the growth rate is found to be
higher for the smaller family.
