Chae, also less commonly spelled Chai or Chea, is a Korean family name. Its meaning differs based on the hanja used to write it.

Overview

The 2000 South Korean Census found 119,251 people with the family name Chae. It could be written with any of three hanja, indicating different lineages. In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on year 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 87.8% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as Chae in their passports. Another 7.5% spelled it as Chai, 2.8% as Che, and 1.7% as Chea.

Most common (蔡)

(성씨 채 songssi chae) is by far the most common of the three Chae surnames. This character is also used to write the Chinese family name pronounced Cài in Mandarin. The 2000 Census found 114,069 people and 35,099 households with this surname, divided among seventeen reported bon-gwan (clan hometowns, not necessarily the actual residence of clan members), as well as eighty-six people whose bon-gwan was not stated:

Second-most common (菜)

(나물 채 namul chae) is the second-most common of the three Chae surnames. The 2000 Census found 3,516 people and 1,067 households with this surname, divided among two reported bon-gwan:

Least common (采)

(풍채 채 pungchae chae, 캘 채 kael chae) is the least common of the three Chae surnames. The 2000 Census found 1,666 people and 566 households with this surname, with one reported bon-gwan:

People

People with these family names include: