Korean Names – List of Common First and Surnames

In this article,  you will learn all about Korean names.

Knowing someone’s name is important to properly address the person. If you don’t know it yet, you can always ask. But it’s more than just that in Korean culture.

Listed below are the different Korean last names and first names. We’ve also added the meaning of some of these names to help you have a better grasp of Korean first and last names. Let’s get started!

List of Korean Names

Below are lists of common South Korean family names and Korean first names.

List of Korean Surnames and Meanings

Here is a list of the popular Korean surnames in both English and Hangul, along with their meaning.

List of Korean First Names and Meanings

Below are the popular Korean first names in English and Hangul. It also includes the meanings of each native Korean word.

All About a Korean Name

What’s in a name? Well, in Korea — a name can mean quite a bit, actually!

Many parents in South Korea will spend a lot of time and money to come up with cute names for baby girls and baby boys. It’s not just about choosing Korean baby names that will make their child popular. They believe that names can determine their destiny.

Almost all names in the Korean language have a deeper meaning through Hanja (Chinese character). These names from Chinese origin are called Sino-Korean, but more on that later.

With a child’s future on the line, it’s important to come up with a good name in Korean. The family doesn’t necessarily choose a name because it’s popular, but they will often choose one that means something in Korean.

How do South Korean Names Work?

You may have seen a Korean name before. Maybe you have a favorite K-pop star, K-drama character, Korean movie character, or Korean athlete. Do any of these popular Korean individuals ring a bell?

Kim Yuna  (김연아)

Lee Hyo-ri(이효리)

Lee Min-ho (이민호)

Bae Yong-joon (배용준)

As you can see, most names in Korean have three syllables.

There are some names with more than three syllables and some names with less. However,  the large majority of names have three.

You should try to stick with a three-syllable name as well when coming up with a name in Korean for yourself. It’ll make it much easier for your Korean friends and acquaintances that way.

김 = Kim (Surname)

민수 = Min-su (Given Name)

The name above is 김 민수 (Kim Min-su), with 김 (Kim) as the last name and 민수 (Min-su) as the given name.

Korean Name Structure

Names used in Korea usually consist of three phonetic units or syllables. They’re made up of the last name and the first name with two syllables. Let’s look at an example name:

김민수

• 김 is the first unit and also the person’s surname. It’s written first.
• 민수 takes the second and third unit places and is the person’s given name. It can be written on its own or after the surname.

Korean First Names

Although the first names (given name) of Korean people are typically two phonetic units, it is possible to have single-syllable names in Korean. For example, you may see one-syllable names like 박 (Park) and three-syllable names, like 빛나리 (Bit-nari). These are infrequent in South Korea, though.

Here are some examples.

One-Syllable First Name

• First name: 준
• Last name + first name: 김준

Three-Syllable First Name

• First name: 빛이찬
• Last name + first name: 김빛이찬

There will be many different Korean first name combinations. Although some will be more common than others, you’ll constantly run into new ones you’ve never heard of!

Korean Last Names

Traditional Korean surnames usually have a single syllable. However, sometimes there are two-syllable last names, but they are uncommon Korean surnames. One unique Korean surname example is 사공 (Sa-gong).

In the culture of South Korea, it’s proper for the Korean surname to be written first. So, the first character you see is the family name. There are about 250 last names in South Korea. The most common Korean surnames are Choi, Kim, Lee, and Park. Here’s how you can write each of them in Hangeul:

최 (Choi)

김 (Kim)

이 (Lee)

박 (Park)

These make up over half of all last names in the Korean Peninsula (North and South Korea).

Some other common South Korean last names are 김, 박, 정, 윤, 문, 이, 최, and 강.

Korean Name Traditions

In South Korean culture, the same name (Korean given name) is usually not passed down from generation to generation (i.e., from father to son, mother to daughter). However, it’s possible and quite common for Korean parents or a Korean family to have a generational name.

Basically, a generational name syllable means a single Korean character with an individually distinct syllable (Hangul or Hanja characters) shared within the family. However, this isn’t practiced as much in modern names.

For example, it’s popular for parents in South Korea to name their kids with the same first syllable if the genders are the same, i.e., 지우 (Ji-woo) and 지훈 (Ji-hoon), 유진 (Yu-jin) and 유림 (Yu-rim)

Korean Hanja Names

Almost all names have a Hanja spelling. Hanja is the word used to describe a Chinese word in Korean and is an important part of the language. You can see this in a Sino-Korean word or name such as Eun (은 | 恩 = kind) or Hyeon (현 | 賢 = virtuous).

Hanja adds an additional aspect to the meaning behind a name in Korean. You can learn more about these Chinese characters in this article.

How to Pronounce Names in Korean

If you’re not used to pronouncing Korean names it’s best to brush up on that before diving in with a name of your own! And that means learning to read the Korean alphabet. It takes about 1 hour, and you will be able to pronounce names in Korean correctly.

You can also estimate their pronunciation by writing them out in English. The next section below will show you how to change names in Korean to English letters.

How to Write Korean Names in English

If you need to convert a name from Hangeul to English letters, your best bet is to follow the standard Romanization of the Korean System. If you use these rules, you’ll reduce your chances of confusion.

Consonant Characters

Below are the consonants included in the Korean alphabet:

Vowel Characters

Here is the complete list of Korean vowels:

Let’s Romanize the name “윤민지” using the rules above.

윤 = Yun

민 = Min

지 = Ji

Put them together, and you’ve got “Yun MinJi.”

You will definitely see variations on how these names are spelled in Romanized Korean, but that’s how it’s done according to the Romanization rules.

Why Korean Names in English Are Confusing

Let’s say you see a name in Korean written in Romanized Korean that looks like this:

JaeHun

Does this mean 재훈 (JaeHoon) or 재헌 (JaeHeon)?

This is a common problem that most Korean learners face with writing names in Korean using English letters. Koreans will use various combinations of English letters to spell their names in English depending on their personal preferences, so it’s hard to know how to pronounce their name in Korean until you ask or you make a mistake trying it.

Therefore, it’s easier and more precise to use Hangeul!

Wrap Up

And that’s it for names in Korea! Do you know someone with a common Korean surname above? We hope you get inspiration from this post on the Korean name you’d like to have for yourself or to learn the meaning of the name of your close friends.