유명(有名)하다 means "famous," but the literal meaning of the word's Chinese characters is "having a name." Koreans also say a person is famous by saying 이름있다, which seems to be a pure Korean translation of 유명(有名).
At one time, did simply having a name make one famous in Korea? I do not know, but we have a similar expression in English, which is, "Make a name for one's self."
