Yoo (Korean surname)

Ryu (also spelled Yoo or Yu or You or Ryoo) is the English transcription of several Korean surnames written as 유 or 류 in Hangul. Some of the family names written as Yoo are derived from the Chinese surnames Liu and Yu. As of 2000, roughly a million people are surnamed Yoo in South Korea, making up approximately 2% of the population. Of those, the most common is Ryu (Hanja:柳, Hangul:류), with more than six hundred thousand holders, whereas Yu (Hanja:兪, Hangul:유) accounts for about one hundred thousand.

The family name Yoo can be represented by any of the four Hanja: 柳(류), 劉, 兪 and 庾, each with a different meaning. In Korean, only the character 柳 specifically refers to 류 (Ryu), whereas the characters 劉(류) and 庾 refers to 유 (Yu) and is spelled as such; because of its irregular romanization, from Hanja to Hangul to English. The transliteration from Korean to English led 류 (Ryu) and 유 (Yu) to be mistakenly spelled the same.

Surname: Hanja: 劉 / 刘, Hangul:유,류 Pinyin: Liú. A very common surname, as it was used by the ruling family of the Han Dynasty - a high point in the history of China.