Your Name in Korean — English name to Hangul converter

How your name is written in Korean

This page turns an English name into Hangul, the Korean writing system, by matching sounds. Type a first name and, if you like, a family name. You will see the spelling most commonly used in Korean, other common spellings when there are any, a block-by-block breakdown, and how the result is read aloud in Revised Romanization. Everything runs inside your browser, so the name you type is never sent to a server.

It is an unofficial aid for curiosity, study, gifts and souvenirs. There is no single correct Hangul spelling of a foreign name, which is why the page shows alternatives and says clearly when a result is only an approximation.

How to use it in three steps

1. Type your first name, add your family name if you want it included (for example Emily Carter), and press Show my name in Korean.
2. Check the result. A Dictionary badge means the name is in the built-in list of common names. If another common spelling exists, it appears as a button you can tap to switch.
3. Press Copy to take the Hangul with you, or switch between Western order and Korean order, where the family name comes first.

How English names become Hangul

Korean cannot spell a foreign name letter by letter. English spelling is irregular, and Hangul is built on a different idea, so the conversion works through sound. First the name is reduced to its syllables. Then each sound is matched with the closest Korean sound, and the matching letters are stacked into square blocks, one block for each syllable.

Every block has the same layout: an initial consonant, then a vowel, and sometimes a final consonant at the bottom. When a syllable starts with a vowel, a silent placeholder consonant, ㅇ, fills the initial slot. Here is the name Emily, which sounds roughly like “EM-ih-lee”, worked through step by step:

Together the three blocks make 에밀리, read e-mil-li. Notice that the “l” in the middle of the name is written twice: once as the final consonant of the second block and once as the initial consonant of the third. Korean has one letter, ㄹ, for both the English r and l, and this doubling is the usual way to show an l that sits between two vowel sounds.

Behind the scenes, each block is one character in Unicode. Hangul has 19 possible initial consonants, 21 vowels and 28 final slots (including “no final”), which gives 19 × 21 × 28 = 11,172 possible blocks. A computer can build any of them with one formula, which is how this page assembles its results.

The basic letters at a glance

Hangul was created in the 15th century under King Sejong and promulgated in 1446. Modern Hangul uses 14 basic consonants and 10 basic vowels; the remaining letters are doubled or combined versions of these. The tables show the basic letters with their Revised Romanization and a rough English comparison. The comparisons are approximate, because Korean sounds never match English ones exactly.

Why one name can have several spellings

Foreign names are written in Hangul by ear, and different people hear and choose differently. A dictionary, a news outlet, a school, a subtitle team and a friend may each pick their own spelling for the same name. Take Sarah: some people write 세라, which follows the way many English speakers say the first vowel, while others write 사라, which follows the spelling more closely. Both are in everyday use. Daniel (대니얼 or 다니엘) and Anna (안나 or 애나) are similar cases.

The spellings on this page are based on common Korean foreign-word spelling practice. South Korea has published guidelines for writing foreign words in Hangul, and this tool is not an implementation of them. It follows everyday usage, which sometimes differs from the guidelines. That is why the page lists more than one spelling when it is confident that several are used.

Why some English sounds do not exist in Korean

Korean has no separate letters for several English sounds, so they are replaced by the nearest available sound. The usual substitutions are:

• f becomes ㅍ (p) and v becomes ㅂ (b), so Fiona is written 피오나 and Victor 빅터.
• z becomes ㅈ (j), and th usually becomes ㅅ (s), as in 스미스 for Smith.
• r and l share one letter, ㄹ, so Korean spelling cannot tell Rachel from Lachel.
• Consonant clusters are split up. A Korean syllable can start with only one consonant, so a short vowel, ㅡ (eu), is added: Chris becomes 크리스, three blocks for one English syllable.
• Final consonants are limited too. A final t is usually written as ㅅ after a short vowel, as in 맷 for Matt, or gets its own ㅡ block, as in 케이트 for Kate.

This is why a result can look longer than your name. A one-syllable name such as Chris can take three blocks, and the extra ㅡ blocks are quiet, light syllables rather than additions to the name.

How to read the result

Read the blocks from left to right. Each block is one syllable, and a silent ㅇ at the start of a block means the syllable begins with a vowel. A ㅇ at the bottom of a block is the sound “ng”. The syllable breakdown under your result shows the initial consonant, vowel and final consonant of every block, with the Latin letters used in Revised Romanization beneath them.

Revised Romanization in a nutshell

Revised Romanization is the system South Korea has used officially since 2000 to write Korean in Latin letters. It uses plain letters, with no accents and no apostrophes. Two details are worth knowing. First, it writes how a word is pronounced, not letter by letter, which is why 에밀리 appears as “Emilli”: the final ㄹ and the following ㄹ are pronounced as a double l. Second, some letters look unusual to English readers: ㅓ is “eo”, ㅡ is “eu” and ㅐ is “ae”. The romanization shown here is a reading aid. It is not a respelling of your English name.

Writing your name by hand as a keepsake

A Hangul version of your name makes a pleasant souvenir for a card, a bookmark or a travel journal. Draw each block inside an imaginary square so that the letters stay balanced. Within a block, write the consonant first, then the vowel: tall vowels such as ㅏ and ㅣ go to the right of the consonant, and flat vowels such as ㅗ and ㅜ go underneath it. A final consonant sits at the bottom. Lines are written from top to bottom and from left to right. For anything permanent, such as a tattoo or a sign, ask a Korean speaker to check the spelling first.

Official paperwork

This page is not a source for official documents. For paperwork in Korea, names are normally written in the Latin alphabet exactly as they appear in your passport. If a form or an office asks for a Hangul spelling of your name, check with the relevant office instead of relying on this tool.

Frequently asked questions

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Curious about Korean culture beyond names? The Korean Age Calculator shows how traditional Korean age differs from international age, and the Korean Zodiac Calculator finds your animal sign. For housing sizes in Korea, try the Pyeong to Square Feet Converter, and if you need a handle for an online account, the Username Generator can suggest ideas. More tools like this are in Korea & Culture.