Korean Name Generator
Korean names in family-name-first order, assembled from real hanja syllables and shown in the spelling Koreans use in English, with meanings.
47,753 combinations in this form
- Park Seongjin
Seong achieve + jin truth
achieve truth
Park plain
plain
- Choi Hwaha
Hwa flower + ha summer
flower summer
Choi lofty
lofty
- Hwang Okhak
Ok jade + hak learning
jade learning
Hwang yellow
yellow
- Jang Jungbo
Jung upright + bo treasure
upright treasure
Jang to stretch
to stretch
- Jang Jiju
Ji wisdom + ju pearl
wisdom pearl
Jang to stretch
to stretch
- Jang Binso
Bin refined + so luminous
refined luminous
Jang to stretch
to stretch
- Ryu Manyeol
Man ten thousand + yeol ardent
ten thousand ardent
Ryu willow
willow
- Kwon Heeji
Hee joy + ji wisdom
joy wisdom
Kwon authority
authority
- Hwang Hyeho
Hye kindness + ho vast
kindness vast
Hwang yellow
yellow
- Kwon Haechan
Hae sea + chan brilliant
sea brilliant
Kwon authority
authority
- Kwon Aeyeon
Ae love + yeon lotus
love lotus
Kwon authority
authority
- Kang Junghwa
Jung upright + hwa flower
upright flower
Kang ginger
ginger
- Kang Binbo
Bin refined + bo treasure
refined treasure
Kang ginger
ginger
- Kang Hwaseo
Hwa flower + seo auspicious
flower auspicious
Kang ginger
ginger
- Nam Juhye
Ju pearl + hye kindness
pearl kindness
Nam south
south
- Yoon Taecheol
Tae grand + cheol wise
grand wise
Yoon to govern
to govern
- Kim Yeondan
Yeon lotus + dan vermilion
lotus vermilion
Kim gold
gold
- Ahn Jihwa
Ji wisdom + hwa flower
wisdom flower
Ahn peace
peace
- Kim Hyunbeom
Hyun virtuous + beom exemplar
virtuous exemplar
Kim gold
gold
- Yoon Bokok
Bok fortune + ok jade
fortune jade
Yoon to govern
to govern
- Park Moonseung
Moon writing + seung victory
writing victory
Park plain
plain
- Baek Yeolnam
Yeol ardent + nam south
ardent south
Baek white
white
- Baek Geumga
Geum gold + ga beautiful
gold beautiful
Baek white
white
- Choi Minseung
Min people + seung victory
people victory
Choi lofty
lofty
How Korean names are built
¶A Korean name puts the family name first: in Kim Minji, Kim is the surname and Minji the given name. The given name is almost always two syllables, and each syllable is a hanja, a Chinese character borrowed into Korean, with a meaning of its own. Min is people, ji is wisdom, seo is auspicious, hyun is virtuous, woo is help. Read together they make a phrase, which is what parents are choosing when they register a birth.
Many families still use a generational syllable, the dollimja. One of the two syllables is fixed for everyone of the same generation in the clan, so brothers and cousins share it and only the other syllable varies. A family working through a fixed sequence might produce Seongho, Seongmin and Seongjin in one generation and Jaewoo, Jaehyun and Jaeeun in the next. Some families place the shared syllable first, others second.
Surnames are few. Kim, Lee, Park, Choi, Jung, Kang, Cho, Yoon, Jang and Lim cover most of the country, and Kim alone accounts for around a fifth of it. Each is a single syllable written with one hanja: Kim is gold, Lee is plum, Choi is lofty, Lim is forest, Baek is white, Nam is south. Others resist translation. Park's hanja means plain or unworked, while the clan's own legend traces the name to a gourd; Jung, Cho, Han and Oh come from ancient states and clan seats and mean nothing in themselves, and a few surnames are written with different hanja by different clans. Because surnames carry so little information, a family is further identified by its bon-gwan, the seat its line came from.
Questions
What are the most common Korean surnames?
Kim, Lee and Park between them cover close to half of all Koreans, followed by Choi, Jung, Kang, Cho, Yoon, Jang and Lim. Each is one syllable written with one hanja: Kim is gold, Lee is plum, Choi is high or lofty, Kang is ginger, and Park's hanja is the one for plain, though the clan legend tells of a gourd. The surname is written and spoken first, before the given name.
Is the family name first in Korean?
Yes. Korean order is surname then given name, so the director Bong Joon-ho has the family name Bong. Koreans living abroad often reverse it for convenience, and English-language press is inconsistent, but the Korean order is the one used in Korea and in Korean-language credits, and it is the order this generator prints.
What does hanja mean in a Korean name?
Hanja are Chinese characters used in Korean. Most given names are registered with hanja as well as hangul, and the hanja is what fixes the meaning: the syllable ji can be wisdom, will or earth depending on which character the parents chose. Two people whose names sound identical in English can therefore have quite different names on paper.
Are Korean names male or female?
Some syllables lean strongly. Hoon, seok, cheol and beom read as masculine; mi, hee, sook, ja and yeon read as feminine, and names ending in ja belong to an older generation. A wide middle group including ji, min, seo, eun, woo and hyun is used freely for anyone, which is why so many current Korean names sound unisex.
How are Korean names spelled in English?
There is no single answer. The government's Revised Romanisation would give Gim, I and Bak, but families overwhelmingly write Kim, Lee and Park, and passports follow the family. The same goes for given names: 현 is officially hyeon and almost always written Hyun. This generator uses the spellings Koreans actually use, since those are the ones a reader will recognise.