Lee (Korean surname)
| Pronunciation | [iː] or [ɾiː] |
|---|---|
| Language(s) | Korean |
| Origin | |
| Language(s) | Korean |
| Word/name | Korean |
| Meaning |
|
| Region of origin | Korean peninsula |
| Other names | |
| Variant form(s) | Ee, I, Yi, Ri, Rhee, Rhie, Reeh |
| See also | Li, Lý |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 이; 리 |
| Hanja | 李; 異; 伊 |
| RR | I; Ri |
| MR | I; Ri |
Lee, I, or Yi (Korean: 이; 리) is the second-most-common surname in Korea, behind Kim (김). As of the South Korean census of 2015, there were 7,306,828 people by this name in South Korea or 14.7% of the population.
Historically, 李 was written as Ni (니) in Korea. The spelling formally changed to I (이) in 1933 when the initial sound rule (두음 법칙) was established. In North Korea, it is romanized as Ri (리) because there is no distinction between the alveolar liquids /l/ and /r/ in modern Korean.