The Longest Place Name in Korea: "Oknanggakssibaejjanenbawi" in Daegu

[Asia Economy, reporter Yoo Inho] The longest place name in South Korea has been found to be "Oknanggakssibaejjanenbawi" located in Gachang-myeon, Dalseong-gun, Daegu City.

The National Geographic Information Institute announced on October 6 the results of an analysis of approximately 100,000 officially registered place names nationwide, ahead of Hangeul Day on October 9.

According to the analysis, the longest place name in South Korea is the pure Korean word "Oknanggakssibaejjanenbawi," which consists of nine characters and is located in Daegu City.

Most place names across the country are composed of pure Korean words, Sino-Korean words, or a combination of both. Among them, there are 11,771 pure Korean place names, 45,961 Sino-Korean place names, and 17,657 mixed place names.

The most commonly used pure Korean place name is "Saeteo," meaning "a newly formed village," which appears 273 times nationwide, including in Okgye-myeon, Gangneung City, Gangwon Province. This is followed by "Jeolgol" (142 times), "Saemal" (110 times), "Angol" (96 times), "Keungol" (68 times), and "Dwitgol" (66 times).

Among Sino-Korean place names, "Sinchon" (新村), meaning "new village," is the most common, appearing 263 times. This is followed by "Singi" (新基, 192 times), "Pyeongchon" (坪村, 138 times), "Songjeong" (松亭, 126 times), and "Naedong" (內洞, 119 times).

A representative example of a mixed place name is "Jeommal" (店말). "Jeom" (店) is a Sino-Korean word meaning "shop" or "store," which is combined with the pure Korean word "mal" (village). Among mixed place names, "Yangjimal" (陽地말) is the most common, appearing 97 times, followed by "Jeommal" (店말) and "Jangteo" (場터).

The most frequently used mountain name nationwide is "Namsan" (南山), which appears 101 times. For peaks, "Guksabong" (國師峰) is used 80 times. In some regions, the distinction between mountains and peaks is not strictly observed, and both are referred to as mountains.

Sagong Hosang, Director of the National Geographic Information Institute, stated, "On the occasion of Hangeul Day, we analyzed place names nationwide by type and found that, due to the influence of Chinese character culture, Sino-Korean place names outnumber pure Korean ones. We plan to actively utilize pure Korean place names when establishing new place names and to systematically manage and preserve them by discovering unregistered place names nationwide, recovering pure Korean place names lost due to national land development, and revising Japanese-style place names."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.