Korean Names 성명

Korean names are usually pronounced in 3 syllables, although you might come across a few two syllable or four syllable friends along the way.

The first syllable is the family name, whereas the the next 2 syllables are the given names. Most names are originated from Chinese characters, so if you ask a Korean what their name means, they can often reference the Chinese meaning.

There are over 300 Korean family names. The most common are Kim (김), Lee (이), Park (박), Ahn (안), Jang (장), Jo (조), Seo (서), and Choi (최). And unlike in the west, the bride does not change her surname after marriage.

One thing that may confuse you in Korea is the effect that romanization has on Korean names. When a Korean gives you his/her name card, you may see a lot of different variances to the english spelling of their name. Don't bother trying to correct them on what's supposed to be the official english spelling from a romanization perspective, as it doesn't matter. This was the english name that they were registered with as a child and as a result, their passport and all other official documentation that has english, is spelled the same way. The most recent romanization change by the government was in 2000, so don't expect to see everyone leaping out of their chairs to go through all of their records to update the spelling changes to their english name that's still going to sound phonetically the same anyways.