Learn all about Korean Names

The famous Chinese philosopher Confucius stated, “A good name will lead to a good life (정명순행-正名順行).” Many Asian countries put an emphasis on names–Korea included. Names are important to Koreans. And for those of you interested in finding out more about Korean names, writing your name in the Korean alphabet, or even putting together your very own Korean name, well, don’t go anywhere, as this post is your one-stop guide regarding Korean names!

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:

• “How do you write an English name in Korean?”
• “Is it possible to make a name up and ask native Koreans to use it?”
• “Are there any Korean names that sound like English names?”
• “How do you write my K-Pop bias name in Korean?”

Well, rest assured, because we’ve finally put together a post that will be the answer to all your questions.
 

1. Essential Rules for Writing Your Name in Korean
2. Some Korean Names Sound Like English Names
3. Pick out a Korean Name for Yourself, Surname and All!
   
4. How Are Korean Names Written?
5. Related Lessons

One common mistake that we see people making while trying to figure out how to write their name in Korean is that they try to write their names according to the way it is spelled. But actually, you need to write it according to how your name is pronounced. Find Korean pronunciation that sounds similar to your actual name.

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)’.

Now, you may have noticed that the ‘r’ sound at the end of ‘Trevor (트레버)’ does not show up in the Korean equivalent. This is because you do not need to add the consonant ‘ㄹ’ at the end of the syllable if it ends with ‘r’. Some say that this is because there are not so many hangul names with the batchim ‘ㄹ’ at the end. Others say that this is due to the rules set by the National Institute of Korean Language, which designates that borrowed words (외래어) and names be written in a certain way to avoid confusion.

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:

• The name Peter will be romanized as pi-teo and written in Korean as ‘피터 (pi-teo)’, not ‘피털’.
• Alexander will be romanized as a-lek-san-deo and written as ‘알렉산더 (alreksandeo)’, not ‘알렉산덜’

If your name ends with an ‘h’, it will become silent.

• Example: Hannah will be written as ‘한나 (hanna)’, not ‘한낳’.

Other tricky names to write in Korean would be those that end with ‘sh’. In this case, you could use either ‘시 (si)’ or ‘쉬
(swi)’. For example:

• Josh could be written as ‘조시 (josi)’ or ‘조쉬 (joswi)’

If your name ends with a ‘p’ or ‘ph’, you can use either the batchim ‘ㅂ’ or ‘프’, depending on your preference.

• For example, the name Joseph is more commonly written as ‘조셉 (josep)’ in Korean, but you will also see people writing it as ‘조세프 (josepeu)’.
• Another example would be Phillip, ‘필립 (pillip)’, which is even used as a native Korean name. But you could write it as ‘필리프 (pillipeu)’. (Again, ‘필립’ is used more commonly.)

Names that have a syllable that ends with ‘t’ can be written as either ‘ㅅ’ or ‘트’. For example:

• Scott could be written as ‘스콧 (seukot)’ or ‘스코트 (seukoteu)’
• Matt could be written as ‘맷 (maet)’ or ‘매트 (maeteu)’

There is no ‘f’ sound in Korean, so names that start with ‘f’ will be written using the consonant ‘ㅍ’ , along with names that start with ‘p’. For example:

• Felicity will be written in Korean as ‘펠리시티 (pellisiti)’
• Pamela will be written in Korean as ‘파멜라 (pamella)’

There is no ‘v’ sound in Korean, so syllables that start with ‘v’ will be written using the consonant ‘ㅂ’ , along with names that have ‘b’. For example:

• Vanessa will be written in Korean as ‘바네사 (banesa)’.
• Becky will be written in Korean as ‘베키 (beki)’.
• Steve will be written in Korean as ‘스티브 (seutibeu)’.

Names that start with ‘j’ or ‘z’ will be written using the consonant ‘ㅈ’. For example:

• Joe will be written in Korean as ‘조 (jo)’.
• Jack and Zack will both be written in Korean as ‘잭 (jaek)’.

One ‘l’ that comes before a vowel in the middle of the name often becomes ㄹ + ㄹ + vowel. For example:

• Julia will be written in Korean as ‘줄리아 (jullia)’.
• Nicolas will be written in Korean as ‘니콜라스 (nikollaseu)’.

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.

If the pronunciation of the name syllable ends with ‘k’, it’s ‘ㄱ’ or ‘크’ but ‘ㄱ’is more common. For example:

• Patrick will be written in Korean as ‘패트릭 (paeteurik)’.
• Eric will be written in Korean as ‘에릭 (erik)’.