We start with the family name
In Korea the family name comes first, and unlike given names it is not freely invented — you inherit it. So we only suggest surnames that Korean people actually have. Our default pool is the 20 most common surnames, which together cover roughly 80% of the population.
If your own surname happens to line up with a real Korean one by sound — Wang with 왕, Ye with 예 — we put that one first. Keeping a thread back to your original name is worth more than a surname chosen at random.
You can pick a surname yourself or let us recommend one. Either way it will be a surname that exists.
There are twenty-six surnames to choose from
We kept the list narrow on purpose. Korean surnames really are concentrated — Kim, Lee and Park alone account for about 45% of the population, and the top twenty for roughly 80%. Adding rare surnames would widen the menu, but it would also produce names that Koreans do not hear as names.
- The twenty most common (about 80% of the population) — 김 Kim · 이 Lee · 박 Park · 최 Choi · 정 Jung · 강 Kang · 조 Cho · 윤 Yoon · 장 Jang · 임 Lim · 한 Han · 오 Oh · 서 Seo · 신 Shin · 권 Kwon · 황 Hwang · 안 Ahn · 송 Song · 전 Jeon · 홍 Hong
- Real surnames added to keep a thread of sound — 왕 Wang · 진 Jin · 백 Baek · 마 Ma · 나 Na · 유 Yoo
The second group exists so that your own surname can carry over by sound. Wang, Jin, Baek, Ma, Na and Yoo are surnames Koreans already have, so saying your name keeps a link to the one you started with. All twenty-six are surnames in actual use — none of them are our invention.
Easy to say, easy to write
This is a name people in Korea will actually call you by, so the first thing we check is whether a Korean can hear it once and write it down. A name that needs spelling out every time is a burden you carry, not us.
Meaning matters too. Korean given names usually carry one, so we tell you what the name reads as and why we picked it — not just the name itself.
We ask what the name is for
A name for university paperwork is not the same as a name friends will shout across a room, or a handle you will use online. We ask how you plan to use it and take that into account.