We’ll be honest with you—one of the questions we get asked the most on KoreanClass101 is on — yes, you guessed it — names. The most frequently asked questions include:
Well, rest assured, because we’ve finally put together a post that will be the answer to all your questions.
Want to know how to write your name in Korean? Just ask us! We’ll write your name in Korean.
How can you ask? First, log in to KoreanClass101. Then, simply leave a comment on this page.
Let’s take the name Jane for example. If you try to romanize it in Korean as it is spelled (which would be ‘ja-ne’), it would be sound like ‘자-네’, which really doesn’t sound anything like ‘Jane’.
Here, you may fall into your first dilemma. Korean words must consist of a consonant and vowel sound. However, some names contains only a consonant sound. In this case, just add the Korean vowel ‘ㅡ
(eu)‘. For example, Chris sounds like ‘kris’ so it would become ‘크리스 (keu-ri-seu)’ by adding ‘eu’ to ‘k’ and ‘s’.
This rule also applies to names that contains a syllable that starts with ‘t’. For example, if you want to write the name Trina in Korean, just add ‘eu’ to the ‘t’ sound and you will get ‘트리나 (teu-ri-na)’.
No matter what the reason, remember not to add the batchim ‘ㄹ’ if the syllable ends with ‘r’. Here are some examples of names that should apply this rule:
But if ‘l’ comes at the beginning of the name, it doesn’t change to ㄹ + ㄹ. ‘Lena’ is just ‘레나 (rena)’. If there are two Ls in the middle of the name, write it as it is. You don’t need to add more ㄹ sounds. For that reason, both Gabriella and Gabriela are 가브리엘라.
Here are some names that you can choose from–can you find your name on the list?
For example, if you’re female and your birthday is September 1st, 1996, your full name would be 최진희 (Choe Jin-Hui).
If you’re male with the same birthday above, September 1st, 1996, it’d be 최진훈 (Choe Jin-Hun).
Girl | Boy | |
1. | 하윤 (Ha-Yun) | 도윤 (Do-Yun) |
2. | 지우 (Ji-Wu) | 예준 (Ye-Jun) |
3. | 하린 (Ha-Rin) | 주원 (Ju-Won) |
4. | 수아 (Su-A) | 유준 (Yu-Jun) |
5. | 지아 (Ji-A) | 지호 (Ji-Ho) |
6. | 서아 (Seo-A) | 준우 (Jun-U) |
7. | 서윤 (Seo-Yun) | 하준 (Ha-Jun) |
8. | 서연 (Seo-Yeon) | 서준 (Seo-Jun) |
9. | 하은 (Ha-Eun) | 시우 (Si-U) |
10. | 지유 (Ji-Yu) | 민준 (Min-Jun) |
Rank | Surname | Pronunciation | Population |
1. | 김 (金) | Gim | 9,925,949 |
2. | 이 (李) | I | 6,794,637 |
3. | 박 (朴) | Bak | 3,895,121 |
4. | 최 (崔) | Choe | 2,169,704 |
5. | 정 (鄭) | Jeong | 2,010,117 |
6. | 강 (姜) | Gang | 1,044,386 |
7. | 조 (趙) | Jo | 984,913 |
8. | 윤 (尹) | Yun | 948,600 |
9. | 장 (張) | Jang | 919,339 |
10. | 임 (林) | Im | 762,767 |
호랑이는 죽어서 가죽을 남기고 사람은 죽어서 이름이 남긴다.
“A tiger will die and leave its skin, and a person will die and leave his name”.
This is one saying that epitomizes the importance of names to Koreans.
Although some parents will forego the meaningful Chinese characters and opt for a pure Hangul name, you will still commonly see many parents with newborns asking advice from elders or even going to ‘naming gurus’ to get the name that will bring ‘prosperity’ or ‘luck’ to their children. Some parents even take the time to give their children fetal names ‘태명’ before they are born!
Having said that, how is a Korean name written?
Unlike in English, where the ‘given’ name comes first and the ‘surname’ at the end, you will write your ‘surname/family name/last name (성)’, usually one character (there are some surnames with two characters), first, then your ‘given name/first name (이름), which is usually two characters). For example:
As you can see, it is actually not difficult to write your name in Korean. The fastest method would be to check how your name is written officially in Korean. You could also look for a Korean name that sounds similar to yours, or even make up a ‘Korean’ name.
Or you could ask us! We would be more than happy to give you a hand. Please try writing your name out in Hangul (and let us know how you write and pronounce it in English) in the submission form on the top, and we’ll get back to you.
Thank you for reading. 감사합니다 –It’s thank you in Korean.
The name is Sandra
My name is Jane
Would that translate to 재인??
Wasn’t sure how to get the “J” sound at the start instead of a “ch” sound, so I think I might have used the wrong character at the start. I’m also not entirely convinced that I’ve got the second syllable correct, and best for pronouncing my name as close as possible to the way it should sound. How did I do?? Am I close??
Hello, my name is Marine, how would that be written?
Anyeongahsayoh!,
Please forgive the Romanization.
I think my first name in English [Neil] sounds close to the Korean for "tomorrow" but am unsure. ('Ne-Il')
Also- Newell would be phonetically: 'New- Well'. I am unsure if 'Nu-Well' is appropriate in a Korean form.
Please help clarify, and/or spell this correctly for Koreans.
Kamsahamnida 🙏
Lakshmi
Hi my Name is Emma Philomena Miller I have problems to write my name in Korean, can you please help?!
Hi, my name is Cameron, though often people call me Cam. How would you write Cameron in Korean, and would you write Cam as 감 (Persimmon)?
My Korean friends got me a dojang that says:
캐풀
안디
But they named me 태휸
Israel
Controversial, I know.
Wendy
What's your name? Leave a comment. We'll write your name in the Korean alphabet 😄