Learn all about 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

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:

• 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’

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

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

• 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.)

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

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

• 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)’.

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

• 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.

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