Ryoo Cha-dal

Ryu Cha-dal (류차달) is the founder of the Korean Munhwa Ryu clan. He was born in the year 880AD in the lunar calendar and was named the lord (호족) of Munwha as well as given the title De-seung-gong (대승공) and his sir name by King Taejo Wangon of the Goryeo dynasty (고려왕조) for his help in unifying the Korean Peninsula. The clan he founded is thriving to this day.

Ryu Cha-dal only had one son who was called Ryu Hyo-geum (류효금) and one grandson who was called Ryu Geum-Whan (류금환).There are some stories that tell he was one of or a son of one of the people moving into Koryo after the fall of the kingdom of Balhae (another Korean kingdom) in the north to Khitan (거란) invaders from the Kingdom of Liao (요). Others say he was a descendent of a noble of Shilla (신라) who ran away after a failed rebellion.

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.