# Transliteration: Bae



## cuibono

Hello,

Friends of mine have recently adopted a rescue dog from Korea. They were told that the dog's name is Bae. I've looked online and I see that this seems to be a short name meaning 'inspiration' but I cannot find the actual word in Korean (or indeed whether this is just an abbreviation from a word). If someone could help me, I would be grateful.


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## malgeul91

_Bae_ (배) in Korean could mean a lot of things. The most likely meaning is "pear", more specifically "Korean pear (_Pyrus pyrifolia_)" which looks like a very big, golden apple. For other meanings, here are the entries of "bae" from the Korean–English Learners' Dictionary.


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## cuibono

Hi, @malgeul91. Thanks for your answer. What I'm really trying to find out is which Korean letter(s) would be the correct ones for the dog's name when spelt in Korean. I've found sites that spell the name Bai, Bae, Bay; but all seem to agree that the name for a dog means "inspiration" (it may well mean something different but similar; in fact, it may be an abbreviation of a word meaning inspiration, I simply don't know). 

Since this name—however it is spelt in Korean—name seems common enough that English websites about Korean dog names mention it, I'm hoping there must be a standard spelling in Korean. It's that spelling and the definition that I would like to have. I'm hoping to have.


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## BloodBird

Generally, Inspiration and Bae are not related in Korean. Even if I think about Hangul and Hanja, still can not find it. Maybe it's something you made a mistake?


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## cuibono

Hi, @BloodBird. A mistake is quite possible, please have a look at this site (Korean Dog Names: Secrets from Experts, Easy-to-Follow Guide) and let me know whether you can backwards engineer the Korean letter(s) that are meant.


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## malgeul91

cuibono said:


> Hi, @BloodBird. A mistake is quite possible, please have a look at this site (Korean Dog Names: Secrets from Experts, Easy-to-Follow Guide) and let me know whether you can backwards engineer the Korean letter(s) that are meant.



Many of the names listed on the website don't make sense to me. Many names there are rarely used as dog names, some of them I haven't even seen being used as human names. Some meanings including the one for "Bae" do not seem to be correct. Well, the monk in the picture doesn't seem to be Korean either (Korean monks don't usually wear dark red clothes). The chance is that the article was written by someone who doesn't speak Korean.


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## Flaminius

One of the hanjas for 배 (_bae_) is 白 or “white.”  Maybe your dog takes the name from its colour?


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## malgeul91

Flaminius said:


> One of the hanjas for 배 (_bae_) is 白 or “white.”  Maybe your dog takes the name from its colour?


Well, from what I know the hanja 白 reads as "백(Baek)", not "배(Bae)".


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## Flaminius

Oops, correction duly noted.


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## CharlesLee

cuibono said:


> Hello,
> 
> Friends of mine have recently adopted a rescue dog from Korea. They were told that the dog's name is Bae. I've looked online and I see that this seems to be a short name meaning 'inspiration' but I cannot find the actual word in Korean (or indeed whether this is just an abbreviation from a word). If someone could help me, I would be grateful.



*Usually for 배 as the last name in Korean, there's no specific meaning. It's 裵 in the Chinese letter. However, it's one of Korean surnames.

 본관은 경주(慶州), 성주(星州), 김해(金海), 대구(大邱), 흥해(興海), 협계(俠溪), 곤양(昆陽), 화순(和順) 등 40여 본이 현존한다.

There are about 40 family clans for the 裵(Bae) in Korea.
*
My one of uncles has got the family name as 배 in Korean. What if the Bae was just pure Korean meaning in Korean? Then it's pears , bellies, or boats.


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## Rance

The best way to find out is to contact the shelter.
Otherwise tell us more about the dog.
For example, what color is the dog?
Golden color? Then maybe it is named after Korean pear.
Or could be simply it loved eating pear.

Regardless, my recommendation would be adopting new name for a rescue dog is not a bad idea especially if it had been previously abused in the past.
New life, new owners, new name.
But it's just a suggestion, nothing more.



malgeul91 said:


> Many of the names listed on the website don't make sense to me. Many names there are rarely used as dog names, some of them I haven't even seen being used as human names. Some meanings including the one for "Bae" do not seem to be correct. Well, the monk in the picture doesn't seem to be Korean either (Korean monks don't usually wear dark red clothes). The chance is that the article was written by someone who doesn't speak Korean.



I second him.
A lot of names listed are actually used as Korean human names and one generally don't give such names to a dog in Korea.
Even less chance to find a dog named after river or cities
But this is based on my personal experience, YMMV.
However more common names are Baduggi(every dog appearing in the textbooks until late 80's had this name), Happy, Mary, Coco, and so on.
You don't find any of these in the list which makes me to suspect the credibility.


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## malgeul91

Rance said:


> I second him.


My preferred pronoun is "her".


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## Rance

I should have used gender neutral term.
I'm sorry.


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