# Pronunciation: 朴 (surname)



## yuechu

Hello/大家好,

I have a question regarding the Chinese pronunciation of the Korean surname "朴". (Or perhaps there are Chinese people with this surname as well?)

The Perapera dictionary says it should be pronounced Piao2 or Pu2 as a surname. Chinese Wikipedia also gives the pronunciation Pu1 as a surname.

Which pronunciations are correct? (I have a feeling that this surname would not have 3 correct pronunciations... (for this particular meaning, not counting the character's other meanings)). Also, which pronunciation would you consider most common?

Thanks/谢谢！


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## kareno999

baosheng said:


> Hello/大家好,
> 
> I have a question regarding the Chinese pronunciation of the Korean surname "朴". (Or perhaps there are Chinese people with this surname as well?)
> 
> The Perapera dictionary says it should be pronounced Piao2 or Pu2 as a surname. Chinese Wikipedia also gives the pronunciation Pu1 as a surname.
> 
> Which pronunciations are correct? (I have a feeling that this surname would not have 3 correct pronunciations... (for this particular meaning, not counting the character's other meanings)). Also, which pronunciation would you consider most common?
> 
> Thanks/谢谢！


Piao2 is the norm for Korean names. Btw, do people still use the word "surname" nowadays?


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## yuechu

Thanks for your reply, kareno999!

Yes, people still use the word "surname". It is, however, more formal than "last name". If I just wanted to ask someone's 姓 in English, I would normally say "What's your last name?". In written English, you'll see "surname" more often (on forms, etc).


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## Youngfun

It is Piao2 in Chinese and Park in Korean.


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## SuperXW

If the person is a Korean, and you read the name out in Korean, you read Park.
If the person is a Korean, and you read the name out in Chinese, you read piao2.
If the person is a Chinese, and you read the name out in Chinese, you should consult the person. It's either pu3 or piao2. If consulting is not possible, I usually read pu3.


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## Youngfun

Thanks SuperXW!

I'm sorry for the wrong information... as in my university there are 70% of Korean students, I know many Koreans with piao2 surname, but I've never seen some Chinese with surname pu3...


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## SuperXW

Youngfun said:


> I'm sorry for the wrong information... as in my university there are 70% of Korean students, I know many Koreans with piao2 surname, but I've never seen some Chinese with surname pu3...


There is a Mainland singer named pu3shu4, and a TV actor named pu3cun2xin1. So the rare surname gives people an artistic feeling.


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## Bongiornor

to SuperXW 
aah,i know that some one would refer to 朴树 , but pu2shu3 is  just his stage name,maybe intentionally use a tree name. as a surname  it just have one pronunciation piao2.


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## SuperXW

Bongiornor said:


> to SuperXW
> aah,i know that some one would refer to 朴树 , but pu2shu3pu3shu4 is just his stage name,maybe intentionally use a tree name. as a surname it just have one pronunciation piao2.


Yeah. I thought it could be a stage name, but forgot to mention it...My other example was also wrong as the actor's name is 濮存昕, not 朴...
I don't know then. I guess that 朴 IS a very rare name for Chinese then.
But still, piao2 does sound funny to a Chinese...pu3 sounds much better, unless we know the name belongs to a Korean.


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## leeumay

SuperXW said:


> There is a Mainland singer named pu3shu4, and a TV actor named pu3cun2xin1. So the rare surname gives people an artistic feeling.


I think the TV actor named pu3cun2xin1(濮存昕) whose surname is "濮" instead of "朴". However, the singer pu3shu4 (朴树) is really a good example for the rarely used surname "朴".


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## leeumay

Bongiornor said:


> to SuperXW
> aah,i know that some one would refer to 朴树 , but pu2shu3 is  just his stage name,maybe intentionally use a tree name. as a surname  it just have one pronunciation piao2.


I don't think so. One of my undergraduate classmate has a surname "朴XX", and he asked everybody to call him pu3 xx.


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## yuechu

Hello,
Sorry to revive this thread--I just wanted to confirm the pronunciation of the Chinese surname 朴 (opposed to the Korean one). I noticed that most people mentioned the pronunciation pu3 but there was also pu2. In one of my dictionaries, it also says "pu2" for the surname (although it is a "wiki" dictionary and may contain mistakes.. ). Do you think this is a mistake? (is the standard pronunciation pu3 for the Chinese surname?)

Thanks in advance/谢谢！


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## Youngfun

Xinhua Zidian online and Zdic say it's pu3. My paper dictionary (新编字典) also says so but it's weird cause doesn't have the piao2 reading.
So I've already found 3 Mainland dictionary that say pu3.

Apparently, pu2 is the Taiwan pronunciation, according to the dictionary of the Ministry of Education of Taiwan.

According to Wikipedia, the Korean surname is read piao2 in Mainland, but pu1 in Taiwan and Hong Kong.  
But the MOE dictionary marks 朴 as piao2 for the Korean surname, and pu2 for the Chinese surname, but doesn't list pu1 as a possible pronunciation; while for 樸 gives only pu2 as pronunciation. 樸 has some common meaning with 朴 (pu2), but the surname is 朴 in TC.
Wikipedia doesn't have an article about the Chinese surname.

The artist name 朴树 (pu3 shu4) is also homograph, but not homophone, with the tree 朴树 (po4 shu4), called in English Chinese Hackberry.


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## yuechu

Hmm... it is strange that you also found a source with Pu2 as a pronunciation for the Chinese surname. In any case, it looks like Pu3 is the most common one. Thanks for checking, Youngfun!!


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## Youngfun

Yes, it seems that Pu3 in Mainland = Pu2 in Taiwan.
FYI, when I wrote "MOE" in my above post, I meant the dictionary of the Taiwan Ministry of Education.


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