How Korean names work and how to use this generator

How a Korean name is built

The surname comes first and the given name second. In Kim Seo-yun, Kim is the surname and Seo-yun is the given name.

A surname is usually one syllable. A given name is often two. Kim, Lee and Park are the most common surnames.

Hanja names and native names

Many names are built from the meaning of hanja, the Chinese characters used in Korean. The same sound can carry a different meaning with a different character.

Some names use plain Korean words instead. Haneul, Narae and Seulgi are examples.

This tool makes both kinds. Pick a type and press make names.

How this tool picks

It draws from a surname list, a hanja list and a native word list. The draw starts from a seed made of your text and your choices.

The same text and choices give the same names. Make more changes the seed.

Each hanja meaning was checked against the open Unicode character data. A character we could not check is not in the list.

Spelling

Spelling here is the official romanization applied one syllable at a time. Seo-yun is written Seo-yun.

Surnames have older English spellings. Kim is Kim, and the surname written 李 is often Lee or Yi.

So the result card shows the usual English spelling, and the surname pages also show the official one.

Picking a name for a story or game

Type the character's name and make names. The same character always gets the same candidates.

Choose a meaning to set the tone. Light for a bright person, strength for a steady one.

Give siblings one surname and change the given name.

Some families share one syllable across a generation. To copy that, keep one syllable fixed.

Limits

The list was not checked against the court's official hanja list for names. For a real registration, check that list.

Meanings are dictionary meanings. This tool does not count strokes or elements to rate a name.

The usage tag is a rough guide to modern names and not a rule.