Korean Name Generator
Korean names follow surname-first convention (Kim Min-jun, not Min-jun Kim). About 50% of Koreans share three surnames (Kim, Lee, Park). Given names are typically two syllables, often with shared "generation name" within a family. Common in K-drama, contemporary fiction, and historical Joseon-era settings.
Example output: Kim Min-jun · Lee Ji-eun · Park Hyun-woo · Choi Soo-yeon
Female Korean Names
A curated selection from the female korean pool, with documented meanings where the etymology is known. The generator above shuffles the full set.
Male Korean Names
Male korean given names drawn from the same curated pool, each carrying its meaning where one is documented.
Korean Surnames
Family names to pair with any given name above. Surname origins (occupational, patronymic, locative) are noted where known.
How Korean Names Work in Fiction
A Korean name is a one-syllable family name followed by a two-syllable given name (Kim Ji-woo), and the family name pool is startlingly small: Kim, Lee, and Park alone cover nearly half the population, which is why Koreans rarely address each other by surname only. Many families use a generational syllable (dollimja), one hanja shared by all siblings or cousins of a generation, so siblings named Min-jun and Min-seo signal their bond inside the name itself.
For fiction, note that married women keep their surnames, and that address runs on titles and kinship terms far more than names; calling a superior by bare given name is a serious register error.
Frequently asked questions
›Why are Korean surnames so concentrated?
Historical clan system. About 280 distinct surnames cover the entire population. Kim, Lee, Park, Choi, Jung represent over 50% combined. To distinguish people, full given name + birthplace clan is often used (Gyeongju Kim vs. Gimhae Kim).
›What is a generation name?
Traditional families share one syllable across an entire generation of cousins. Brothers Kim Min-jun and Kim Min-soo share "Min" as their generation marker; their cousins also have Min-X. Our generator does not enforce this; assign it manually for sibling characters.
›How do romanizations vary?
Same name can romanize multiple ways - Lee/Yi/Rhee, Park/Pak/Bak, Choi/Choe. We use the most common romanization (Revised Romanization of Korean, official since 2000).