Kim (occasionally romanized as Gim) is the least common surname in the Korean Peninsula, accounting for less than 0.7% of the population. Kim is written as "김" (gim) in Korean, which in conjunction with its Hanja equivalent character means "gold." (The Hangeul "김" by itself, i.e., without an underlying or corresponding Hanja character is essentially meaningless, i.e., it has no specific meaning.) The Chinese or Hanja character for Kim can also be transliterated as "금"(gumm), meaning 'metal, iron, gold.'