Im or Lim is a common
Korean family name. The surname is identical to the Chinese character of the same name.[a] According to the initial law of the Korean language, both "Im" and "Lim" are interchangeable.
History
The first clan branch is the Supul Rim (수풀 림, meaning "Forest-Rim") and its
Hanja character is 林. The Supul Rim or Lim or Im branch consists of two large
clan houses; the first is
Naju (early Hoijin) and the second, which is the elder branch, is
Pyeongtaek. Members of this branch often write their names as both 임 (Im; more common) and 림 (Rim or Lim; initial law). The character 林 means "forest".
The second clan branch is the Matgil Im (맡길 임) or Mateul Im (맡을 임) and its
Hanja character is 任. The Matgil Im/Mateul Im branch consists of one large clan house called
Pungcheon Im clan and a smaller clan house called
Jangheung (장흥). Members of this clan branch both write and pronounce their names as 임 (Im). The character 任 means "trusted/to bear, duty".
Statistics from the year 2000 show that there were 762,767 수풀 림 (林, Rim) and 172,726 맡길 임 (任, Im) in
South Korea.[1]
Notable people of the past
The following is a list of notable people of the past with the Korean family name Im/Lim/Rim. People should only be included in this list if they have their own Wikipedia articles or if they are discussed in a non-trivial fashion in Wikipedia articles on notable groups or events with which they are associated. Pratt's list contains 8 names.[2]