Set a gender above and this generator returns a Korean name with Hangul, a plain-language meaning, and the family name in its correct first position. Below is the same idea done by hand: real Korean names, grouped by gender and by surname, worth browsing before you generate anything.
Everything on this page is attested — names Koreans actually use, built from Hanja (Chinese-character) meanings or from native Korean words. We don't invent meanings; where a Hanja reading has more than one common option, the table names the one actually in use.
Male Korean Given Names
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Min-jun | 민준 (敏俊) — "quick, sharp" + "talented, handsome" |
| Ji-hun | 지훈 (智勛) — "wisdom, intellect" + "meritorious deed" |
| Do-yun | 도윤 (道允) — "path, way" + "allow, consent" |
| Geon-u | 건우 (建宇) — "build, establish" + "universe" |
| Ha-jun | 하준 (夏准) — "summer, great" + "approve, permit" |
| Hyeon-u | 현우 (賢祐) — "virtuous, worthy" + "divine protection" |
| Hyeon-jun | 현준 (賢俊) — "virtuous, worthy" + "talented, handsome" |
| Do-hyeon | 도현 (度賢) — "extent, limit" + "virtuous, worthy" |
| Dae-seong | 대성 (大成) — "big, great" + "accomplished" |
| Byeong-ho | 병호 (炳浩) — "bright, luminous" + "vast, great" |
| Dong-hyeon | 동현 (東賢) — "east" + "virtuous, worthy" |
| Il-seong | 일성 (日成) — "sun, day" + "accomplished" |
| Jeong-ho | 정호 (正浩) — "right, proper" + "vast, great" |
| Jeong-hun | 정훈 (正勛) — "right, proper" + "meritorious deed" |
| Hwan | 환 (煥) — "shining, brilliant" (single-syllable) |
Female Korean Given Names
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Chae-won | 채원 (采原) — "gather, collect" + "source, origin" |
| Da-eun | 다은 (多恩) — "much, many" + "kindness" |
| Eun-ji | 은지 (恩智) — "kindness" + "wisdom" |
| Eun-seo | 은서 (恩瑞) — "kindness" + "auspicious" |
| Eun-yeong | 은영 (恩英) — "kindness" + "flower, hero" |
| Ha-eun | 하은 (夏恩) — "summer, great" + "kindness" |
| Ha-yun | 하윤 (昰昀) — "summer" + "sunlight" |
| Ji-hye | 지혜 (智慧) — a compound meaning "wisdom" |
| Hye-jin | 혜진 (慧珍) — "bright, intelligent" + "precious, rare" |
| Hyeon-ju | 현주 (賢珠) — "virtuous, worthy" + "jewel, pearl" |
| Hyeon-suk | 현숙 (賢淑) — "virtuous, worthy" + "pure, good" |
| Gyeong-hui | 경희 (敬姬) — "respect, honor" + "beauty" |
| Gyeong-ja | 경자 (慶子) — "celebration" + "child" |
| Chae-yeong | 채영 (彩瑛) — "colour" + "jade" |
| Eun-ju | 은주 (銀珠) — "silver" + "jewel, pearl" |
Korean Surnames
| Name | Meaning / origin |
|---|---|
| Kim | 김 (金) — "gold, metal"; roughly 1 in 5 Koreans |
| Lee | 이 (李) — "plum tree" |
| Park | 박 (朴) — "gourd"; tied to the legend of Silla founder Park Hyeokgeose |
| Choi | 최 (崔) — "high, lofty" |
| Jung | 정 (鄭) — named after the ancient Chinese state of Zheng |
| Kang | 강 (姜) — most commonly "ginger" |
| Yoon | 윤 (尹) — "to govern, to lead" |
| Kwon | 권 (權) — "authority, power" |
| Jang | 장 (張) — "to stretch, to draw a bow" |
| Han | 한 (韓) — the historical and modern name for Korea itself |
Native Korean (Non-Hanja) Names
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Haneul | 하늘 — native word for "sky, heaven" |
| Iseul | 이슬 — native word for "dew" |
| Bora | 보라 — native word for "purple" |
| Seulgi | 슬기 — native word for "wisdom, intelligence" |
| Hana | 하나 — native word for "one" |
| Duri | 두리 — Gyeongsang-dialect word for "two," used as a unisex given name |
Family Name First, Given Name Second
Korean order runs backward from English, and it never flips. "Kim Minjun" is Minjun of the Kim family, not a person surnamed Kim whose given name happens to be Minjun.
Surnames also cluster hard. Kim alone covers about a fifth of the country, and five names together — Kim, Lee, Park, Choi, and Jung — pass the halfway mark.
That concentration is a side effect of history, not chance. Commoners took aristocratic surnames en masse once Joseon-era caste restrictions loosened, and centuries of choices funneled into the same handful of names. Given names carry the individuality instead.
Hanja vs. Native Korean Names
Two traditions produce a Korean given name. One draws on Hanja — Chinese characters absorbed into Korean centuries ago, each carrying its own meaning. The other skips Hanja entirely and pulls straight from Korean vocabulary.
Two characters, two meanings, combined into one name
- Ji-hye — 智慧, "wisdom"
- Min-jun — 敏俊, "sharp" + "talented"
- Hyeon-ju — 賢珠, "virtuous" + "jewel"
Pulled from everyday Korean words, no Hanja involved
- Haneul — 하늘, "sky"
- Iseul — 이슬, "dew"
- Seulgi — 슬기, "wisdom"
Neither reads as more Korean than the other. Hanja names connect to a character-based naming tradition also shared, in different form, by Japanese kanji names; native Korean names assert a vocabulary that owes nothing to Chinese characters at all.
Romanization: Why Spellings Vary
"Lee," "Yi," and "Rhee" all render the same surname — 이. Korean romanization has changed more than once, and families often keep whatever spelling stuck a generation or two ago.
The current standard is the Revised Romanization of Korean, adopted by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in July 2000. Under that system, two-syllable given names are written as one unhyphenated word — Minjun, not Min-jun — and Hangul accompanies the romanization rather than replacing it.
Using the Generator
Pick a gender above, then a style. Traditional leans on older Hanja-heavy names like Byeong-ho or Hyeon-suk; modern favors current names like Chae-won or Geon-u. Set the format to "given name only" if you don't need a surname attached.
Every result comes back with Hangul and the actual Hanja meaning, not a guess. Regenerate a few times before settling on anything meant for a real person, a character, or a stage name — the same logic that applies to Vietnamese names, another family-name-first tradition with its own attested pool.
Common Questions
How do I generate a Korean name for a boy?
Set the gender field to male and pick a style. Traditional style returns Hanja-heavy names like Byeong-ho or Jeong-hun; modern style leans toward current names like Do-yun, Geon-u, or Hyeon-u. Every result includes the Hangul and what the Hanja actually mean.
How do I generate a Korean name for a girl?
Set the gender field to female. Traditional style favors older-generation names like Gyeong-hui or Hyeon-suk; modern style leans toward Chae-won, Ha-eun, or Eun-seo. Both styles pull from names Koreans actually use, not invented syllable combinations.
Can I get a completely random Korean name?
Yes — set gender to "unisex" and skip picking a meaning theme. You'll still get an authentic, attested name; it just won't be filtered toward one particular meaning or generation.
Why does the family name come before the given name in Korean?
Korean follows the same family-name-first order as Chinese and Vietnamese naming, unlike English. "Lee Jihye" means Jihye of the Lee family — reversing it to "Jihye Lee" is a Western-style error, not an alternate valid order.
Sources
- Behind the Name — Korean given names
- Wikipedia — List of Korean surnames
- Wikipedia — Park (Korean surname)
- Wikipedia — Revised Romanization of Korean
Updated September 2026: Replaced the name lists with a sourced 46-name grid split by gender, surname, and native-Korean names, added a sourced surname-concentration stat block and a Hanja-vs-native compare-strip, rewrote the FAQ around actual search queries, and added a Sources section.
