Kojong's real name was Yo Hyong and Sunjong's was Yi Ch'ok - what do
the regnal names me, and what KIND of names were in consideration ?
Why were these ones chosen and were they ever repeated ? Did each king
need a new name ? If another had come along instead of Sunjong what
name might have been on the cards for him ?

Hello wolvies

I'm glad you're back with a new question, this time in our ersatz
"Tartary."

To use your example of  "Kojong's real name was Yo Hyong," the kings
had a personal name followed by their temple name which was their
Myoho and this was the one the rulers are mostly referred to.  Yo
Hyong ( Yi Hyong ) was a personal name.  Kojong was his Myoho or
temple name.  A third name often came into play after 1896 which was
his Nyonho or 'era' name.  This last was adopted as an indicator of
independence from Imperial China which had Korea as a tributary state
since 1637 till April of 1895.

Here is a list of the kings from 1674 through the beginning of the
20th century.  You will find their personal name followed by their
Myoho and after 1895, also their Nyonho, where applicable.

18 Sep 1674 - 12 Jul 1720  Yi Sun - myoho: Sukchong
12 Jul 1720 - 11 Oct 1724  Yi Kyon - myoho: Kyongjong
11 Oct 1724 - 22 Apr 1776 Yi Kum - myoho: Yongjong, later Yongjo
22 Apr 1776 - 18 Aug 1800  Yi Sun - myoho: Chongjong, later Chongjo
18 Aug 1800 - 13 Dec 1834  Yi Kwang - myoho: Sunjo
13 Dec 1834 - 25 Jul 1849  Yi Hwan - myoho: Honjong
28 Jul 1849 - 16 Jan 1864  Yi Chung - myoho: Ch'oljong 
21 Jan 1864 - 12 Oct 1897  Yi Hyong - myoho: Kojong - nyonho 1 Jan
1896 - 14 Oct 1897: Konyang
12 Oct 1897 - 20 Jul 1907  Yi Hyong - myoho: Kojong - nyonho 14 Oct
1897 - 20 Jul 1907: Kwangmu
20 Jul 1907 - 29 Aug 1910  Yi Ch'ok - myoho: Sunjong - nyonho 20 Jul
1907 - 29 Aug 1910: Lyunghui

As you can see, there was one repitition of both personal name and
Myoho.  So each king did not 'have' to use a different name.

The Myoho was the title given to Korean kings when they were presented
at the ancestral temple.  They usually consist of an auspicious letter
character with either a 'zu' or a 'zong' ending. Zu means a progenitor
or founder of a dynasty while zong is used for all other rulers. 
Variations on the 'zong' are "hong," "jong," and "jo."  None of the
above kings are dynastic founders so the zong ending applies to all of
them.

To use the Myoho name Kojong as an example of the combination of the
auspicious letter character and the zong - Ko has a basic meaning of
"protection."  Ko can mean a 'shield' to protect or defend it can also
mean "to guard at night."  It can also have a variety of other related
meanings within the Korean nuances of word meaning and written sign. 
So the Myoho name Kojong can mean 'Protector of the Yi Dynasty' which
all of these kings belonged to and indicated by the zong and by
extrapolation 'Protector of the Nation.'  In all of these Myoho names,
the name can double as a title and was usually used as such.  The Yi
Dynasty had been in power since 1392.

If another had come along other than Yi Ch'ok - myoho: Sunjong, I have
no idea of what choice the ancestral temple would have made for him. 
However, the 'kind' of name would have been a character auspicious for
religious reasons relating to the good of the king and by extension to
the nation.  And if another had come along instead of Sunjong,
presuming he were of the same dynasty, he would have a variation of
the zong ending.  If another had come along and represented a dynastic
change, then his name would have had a variation of the 'zu' ending.

Websites used to compile the above:

"The Periphery of China..." - From Dr. Kelley L. Ross
( http://www.friesian.com/perigoku.htm )

"CJK English Dictionary - From Ohio state University - cache page
available only - link to current page dead
( http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:UQm1bYblhzsC:pears2.lib.ohio-state.edu/acmuller/cjkdict/data/053/053125EDF.htm+korean+temple+names+myoho&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&client=googlet
)

"South Korea" - From World Statesmen
( http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Korea_South.htm )

"South Korea - Culture, History, and Religion" - From Granite School
District, Utah
( http://www.media.granite.k12.ut.us/Curriculum/korea/index.htm )

Book - "A new history of Korea" - by Ki-Baik Lee

Search - Google
Terms - korean history, regnal names korean emperors, temple assigned
names, temple names, auspiciousness korean characters, korea king list

If I can clarify or expand on anything before rating the answer,
please ask.

Cheers
digsalot

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Request for Answer Clarification by wolvies-ga on 31 Oct 2002 07:36 PST

I don't see a repetition of the myoho, except with Kojong who is
listed twice - I assume he appears twice because until 1897 he was
king, after that date he declared Korea to be the Taehan Empire so he
is both 26th (I think) king and 1st emperor of the Yi dynasty. Is it
possible to go further back with the regnal list to check whether
there is any repetition of the myoho ? I am leaning towards there not
being, but only on 'feeling'.

Other than that, the answer's coming along very nicely !

---

Clarification of Answer by digsalot-ga on 31 Oct 2002 07:47 PST

I have a king list which goes back to the beginning of the dynasty.  I
will check and see if it contains myoho or just personal names.  I
should be able to find both someplace though.  I have a feeling there
will be variations on the Ko character at least, as 'protection' is
probably a common theme, just as there are variations on the 'zong.' 
Would you accept these variations as "duplications" in essence, or do
you want duplications in pronounciation?

cheers
digs

---

Request for Answer Clarification by wolvies-ga on 31 Oct 2002 08:20 PST

Yes, it would be variations on the lead part of the myoho that would
be the factor here; if the latter part is always a version of jong
then what I'm interested in seeing is whether there is any prior
duplication of the lead character. If you CAN find another Kojong or
Sunjong etc (Ko-variant-of-jong etc) then that would settle it for me.
Thanks ! Oh, and if there are no duplicates on the lead character in
any myoho at all I guess you could mention that too ! Answer in the
next 45 minutes and I will be able to rate you today; otherwise I'm
away from a pc till Sunday...

---

Clarification of Answer by digsalot-ga on 31 Oct 2002 15:50 PST

Here is the Yi dynasty king list by myoho name.

T'aejo II - 1392 - 1398
Chongjong III - 1398- 1400
T'aejong - 1401 - 1418
Sejong - 1418 - 1450
Munjong II - 1450 - 1452
Tanjong - 1452 - 1455
Sejo - 1456 - 1468
Yejong II - 1468 - 1469
Songjong II - 1470 - 1494
Yonsan Gun - 1494 - 1506
Chungjong - 1506 - 1544
Injong II - 1544 - 1545
Myongjong - 1546 - 1567
Sonjo - 1567 - 1608
Kwan Naegun - 1609 - 1623
Injo - 1623 - 1649
Hyojong - 1650 - 1659
Hyonjong II - 1550 - 1675
Sukchong - 1675 - 1720
Kyonjong - 1720 - 1724
Yonjo - 1725 - 1776
Chongjo - 1777 - 1800
Sunjo - 1801 - 1834
Honjong - 1835 - 1849
Ch'oljong - 1850 - 1864
Kojong II - 1865 - 1907
Sunjong - 1907 - 1910

There are no direct duplications at all.  However there are variations
of the first character and when that character is duplicated such as
in Sunjo and Sunjong, then a variation of the zong comes into play.

There are two anomalies with a myoho ending in 'gun.'

However, this does not give any firm answer to "Did each king need a
new name ?"  It seems each king in the Yi dynasty "had" one, but it
still could be pure 'chance' that no two had a duplication.  I could
find no reference as to the "need" of a different name.  So, if I said
"yes" at this point, each king "needed" one, I would just be blowing
smoke out my ears and ignoring what the odds would be had the dynasty
continued.

But another factor comes into play here.

That factor is that the Yi dynasty did not begin with a "zu" or
variation of it as the ending of the first king's myoho.  So I delved
into the dynasty previous to the Yi as it seemed to use a continuation
of the names preceeding it as evidenced by early Yi Dynasty rulers
carrying additions such as II and III.  There I struck gold.

The dynasty preceeding the Yi was the Koryo.

Chongjong I - 946 - 949 (Koryo) - repeated Chongjong II - 1035 1047
(Koryo) - repeated Chongjong III 1398 - 1400 (Yi)
Munjong I - 1047 - 1083 (Koryo) - repeated Munjong II - 1450 - 1452
(Yi)
Yejong I - 1106 - 1122 (Koryo) - repeated Yejong II - 1468 - 1469 (Yi)
Songjong I - 981 - 997 (Koryo) - repeated  Songjong II - 1470 - 1494
(Yi)
Injong I - 1123 - 1146 (Koryo) - Injong II - 1544 - 1545 (Yi)
Hyonjong I - 1010 - 1032 (Koryo) - Hyonjong II - 1550 - 1675 (Yi)

Another duplicate name which has no number following it is one of your
examples:

Sunjong 1083 (only one year given) (Koryo) - Sunjong - 1907 - 1910
(Yi)

In as much as your question was not dynasty specific but dealt in
general with the names of Korean rulers, then the answer is "yes," the
kings were able to, and did duplicate names.

The full king list is found:
"The Periphery of China..." - From Dr. Kelley L. Ross 
 ( http://www.friesian.com/perigoku.htm )  

Cheers
digs

Great amount of information, maybe I askewd too much (especially the
speculative stuff) but he kept coming back with great answers and I
now have sufficient to work with ! Thanks !