# Woo (Korean surname)

Woo is an uncommon Korean surname.

## Clans

Woo may be written with either of two hanja (禹 and 于). Each has one bon-gwan: for the former, Danyang, North Chungcheong Province, and for the latter, Mokcheon-eup (목천읍), Dongnam-gu, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, both in what is today South Korea. The 2000 South Korean census found 180,141 people with these family names. In a study by the National Institute of the Korean Language based on 2007 application data for South Korean passports, it was found that 97.0% of people with this surname spelled it in Latin letters as Woo in their passports, while only 1.6% spelled it as Wu. Rarer alternative spellings (the remaining 1.4%) included U and Wo.

## People with the surname

* Queen U (d. 234), queen consort of Goguryeo
* U Hakyu (d. 1179), Goryeo general
* U Tak (1262-1342), Korean Confucian scholar during the Goryeo dynasty
* U Tong-chuk (born 1942), North Korean politician
* Woo Bum-kon (1955–1982), South Korean police officer and spree killer (responsible for the Uiryeong massacre)
* Woo Chul (born 1978), South Korean swimmer
* Woo Do-hwan (born 1992), South Korean actor
* Woo Eun-joung, South Korean taekwondo practitioner
* Woo Eun-kyung (born 1962), South Korean basketball player
* Woo Ha-ram (born 1998), South Korean diver
* Woo Hee-jin (born 1975), South Korean actress
* Woo Hee-young (born 1963), South Korean footballer
* Woo Hye-rim (born 1992), South Korean singer, former member of girl group Wonder Girls
* Woo Hye-mi (stage name Miwoo, 1988–2019), South Korean singer
* Hyo-Won Woo (born 1974), South Korean composer
* Woo Hyun (born 1964), South Korean actor
* Woo Hyun-jung (born 1977), South Korean former field hockey player
* Woo In-hee (c. 1940–1981), North Korean actress and mistress of Kim Jong-il
* Woo Jang-choon (1898–1959), Korean-born Japanese botanist
* Woo Ji-ho (stage name Zico, born 1992), South Korean rapper, record producer, member of boy group Block B
* Woo Ji-hyun (born 1986), South Korean actor
* Woo Ji-won (born 1973), South Korean basketball player
* Woo Jin-won (stage name Masta Wu, born 1978), South Korean rapper
* Woo Jin-yong (born 1986), CrossFit and snowboard athlete
* Woo Jin-young (born 1997), South Korean singer and rapper
* Woo Joo-sung (born 1993), South Korean footballer
* Kevin Woo (born 1991), South Korean-American singer, television host, former member of boy group U-KISS
* Kyu Sung Woo (born 1941), South Korean architect
* Meredith Jung-En Woo (born 1958), South Korean-born American political scientist
* Woo Mi-hwa (born 1974), South Korean actress
* Woo Sang-ho (born 1962), South Korean activist and politician
* Woo Sang-ho (born 1992), South Korean footballer
* Woo Sang-hyeok (born 1996), South Korean high jump athlete
* Woo Sang-kwon (1926–1975), South Korean footballer and coach
* Woo Seung-jae (born 1986), South Korean wrestler
* Woo Seung-je (born 1982), South Korean footballer
* Woo Seung-yeon (1983–2009), South Korean actress
* Woo Sun-hee (born 1978), South Korean handball player
* Sung J. Woo (born 1971), South Korean-born American writer
* Woo Sung-yong (born 1974), South Korean footballer
* Woo Won-jae (born 1996), South Korean rapper
* Woo Won-shik (born 1957), South Korean politician
* Woo Yong-gak (1929–2012), North Korean commando held in South Korea as one of the unconverted long-term prisoners