Your name in Korean
Type your name and see it written in Hangul, broken down block by block, with the sound of each vowel spelled out in English.
How Korean writes foreign names
Hangul is an alphabet, but it is written in syllable blocks. Each block holds a consonant, then a vowel, and optionally a final consonant. That structure is the whole story behind why foreign names change shape when they cross into Korean.
English tolerates consonant clusters that Korean blocks cannot hold. Chris is one syllable in English; in Korean it becomes 크리스 — three blocks, because the k and the s each need a vowel to sit with. The vowel Korean inserts is ㅡ (romanized eu), the most neutral sound in the language. Once you notice that pattern you can predict most transliterations yourself.
The seven finals
Only seven consonants may close a Korean syllable: ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄹ, ㅁ, ㅂ, ㅅ and ㅇ. Names ending in anything else get a vowel added. Mike ends in a k sound after a long vowel, so it becomes 마이크 — the k gets its own block. Nick ends in a k after a short vowel, so the k can close the block: 닉. Same letter, different result, decided by the vowel before it.
R and L are the same letter
Korean has one liquid consonant, ㄹ. It sounds closer to an English r at the start of a syllable and closer to an l at the end. Between two vowels it doubles: Emily becomes 에밀리, with ㄹ closing one block and opening the next. This is also why Korean speakers learning English find rice and lice genuinely hard to separate — the distinction does not exist in their alphabet.
The letters Korean does not have
| English sound | Korean substitute | Example |
|---|---|---|
| f | ㅍ (p) | Frank → 프랭크 |
| v | ㅂ (b) | Victoria → 빅토리아 |
| z | ㅈ (j) | Zoe → 조이 |
| th (as in think) | ㅅ (s) | Matthew → 매슈 |
| th (as in this) | ㄷ (d) | Heather → 헤더 |
| r after a vowel | absorbed into the vowel | Peter → 피터 |
These are not errors — they are the standard substitutions in the loanword orthography, and using them is what makes your name sound natural rather than laboured when a Korean speaker reads it.
Curated spellings versus generated ones
Rules only take you so far. English spelling is a poor guide to English pronunciation, so a purely mechanical converter mangles common names. Sean is not "se-an". Joseph is not "jo-seph". For that reason this tool checks a curated list of roughly two hundred common names first — English, Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and Japanese — and falls back to the rule engine only for names it has not seen.
The result tells you which path it took. A Standard spelling badge means the name came from the curated list and is the form Koreans actually use. A Generated by rules badge means it was transliterated, and while it will be perfectly understandable, a native speaker might write it slightly differently.
Where you will actually use this
- Delivery and payment apps. Plenty of Korean services reject Latin characters in the name field outright. A Hangul spelling is the difference between ordering food and giving up.
- Introducing yourself. Saying your name the Korean way is not a compromise — it is the version people can hear, remember and repeat back.
- Name cards and messaging apps. Putting both forms on a business card is normal and makes you far easier to find in a contact list.
- Learning to read. Your own name is the best possible first thing to learn to write in a new alphabet, because you already know what it should sound like.
Common questions
Can I put my Hangul name on my registration card?
No. The alien registration card carries your name exactly as printed in your passport, in Latin script, and that is what banks, employers and immigration match against. The Hangul form is for everyday use. The one exception is naturalisation, where you register a legal Korean name.
Why do two converters give me different spellings?
Because the loanword orthography prescribes one form and everyday usage often prefers another. Anna is 애나 by the rules and 안나 in practice; Sarah is 세라 by the rules and 사라 in practice. Neither is wrong. This tool shows the common form and tells you when the strict form differs.
Should I pick a Korean name instead?
That is a separate decision, and a personal one. A Korean name is chosen for its meaning and sound rather than derived from your own, and many long-term residents adopt one for work or study. It carries no legal weight unless you naturalise. Transliterating your existing name is the lower-commitment option and is what most people do first.
How do I write the blocks by hand?
Top to bottom, left to right, same as the strokes within each letter. The first consonant goes top-left, the vowel sits to its right if it is a vertical vowel (ㅏ ㅓ ㅣ) or underneath if it is horizontal (ㅗ ㅜ ㅡ), and any final consonant runs along the bottom. Each block occupies the same square regardless of how many letters it contains.
About this converter
Transliteration is approximate by nature. The curated spellings follow common Korean usage; generated spellings follow the loanword orthography published by the National Institute of Korean Language. For anything official, use the Latin spelling in your passport.