Noe (surname)

As a Dutch, English, French, and German surname, Noe is derived from the biblical given name Noah (Middle English and Latin Noe).[2][3] The English variant Noy is similarly derived. However, Noah was not a common given name in medieval England when the surname first appeared there, and so Patrick Hanks suggests that the surname may have been used by descendants of people who were nicknamed Noah, for example as a jocular reference to the Genesis flood narrative, or because they had played the part of Noah in a stage play.[4]

As a Korean surname, Noe (Korean: 뇌) can be written with either of two hanja characters: one meaning "thunder" (雷; Korean: 우레 뇌; RR: Ure Noe), and the other meaning "to request" (賴; Korean: 의뢰할 뇌; RR: Uiroehal Noe). In North Korea, both of these surnames are still spelled Roe (뢰), but in South Korea, the spelling of Sino-Korean words starting with 'r' has changed. The first character is used to write the Chinese surname now pronounced Léi in Mandarin Chinese, while the second is used to write the surname Lài.[5][6] In Korea, surnames are also divided by identification with bon-gwan, which are hometowns of a clan lineage. The main bon-gwan for the surname Noe meaning "thunder" is Gyodong-myeon, a township and island in Ganghwa County, Incheon. Its members claim descent from Noe I-seong (Korean: 뇌이성; Hanja: 雷以誠; pinyin: Léi Yǐchéng), who came from China to Korea to take the official post of hyeongbu sirang[7] during the reign of Emperor Dezong of Qing in the late 19th century.[8][9]

In Italy, 426 families bore the surname Noe, with 197 (46.2%) located in Lombardy, 49 (11.5%) in Piedmont, and 42 (9.9%) in Veneto.[10]

In the Netherlands, there were 184 people with the surname Noë as of 2007, up from 175 in 1947.[11]

In South Korea, the 2000 census found 80 people in 26 households with the surname Noe meaning "thunder", all but two of whom identified with the Gyodong bon-gwan. There were also 12 people in two households with the surname Noe meaning "to request", but the census did not record their bon-gwan.[12] Statistics for the current distribution of these surnames in North Korea are not available. A 1930 taxation survey by the Japanese colonial government found roughly thirty households with the surname meaning "thunder", primarily in Suan County and Hwangju County, North Hwanghae province (in an area that became part of North Korea after the division of Korea).[8]

The 2010 United States Census found 11,182 people with the surname Noe, making it the 3,229th-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase in absolute numbers, but a decrease in relative proportion, from 10,789 (3,080th-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, more than 90% of the bearers of the surname identified as White, between three and five per cent as Hispanic, and between one and two percent as Asian.[13]