Kyung-ja
Kyung-ja
Name list
Kyung-ja, also spelled Kyong-ja, Kyoung-ja or Gyeong-ja, is a Korean feminine given name. The meaning differs based on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name.[1] There are 54 hanja with the reading "kyung" and 28 hanja with the reading "ja" on the South Korean government's official list of hanja which may be used in given names.[2] Typically, "ja" is written with the hanja meaning "child" (子). The characters used to write this name can also be read as a Japanese female given name Keiko.[3]
Kyung-ja is one of a number of Japanese-style names ending in "ja", like Young-ja and Jeong-ja, that were popular when Korea was under Japanese rule, but declined in popularity afterwards.[4] According to South Korean government data, it was the third-most popular name for newborn girls in 1940.[5] However, by 1950 there were no names ending in "ja" in the top ten.[6]
People with this name include:
- Kyung-ja Chun (1924–2015), South Korean painter
- Choi Kyong-ja (born 1930s), South Korean table tennis player who won several medals between 1957 and 1964
- Na Moon-hee (born Na Kyung-ja, 1941), South Korean actress
- Yi Kyoung-ja (born 1948), South Korean writer
- An Gyeong-ja (born 1950), South Korean volleyball player
- Byon Kyung-ja (born 1956), South Korean former volleyball player
- Lee Kyung-ja (born 1964), South Korean speed skater
- Moon Gyeong-ja (born 1965), South Korean former basketball player
- Kim Gyeong-ja (born 1970), one of the hostages in the 2007 South Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan
- Cho Kyung-ja, South Korean table tennis player
