Name to Korean Converter – Write Your Name in Hangul

Koreans write foreign names in Hangul by how they sound, so Michael becomes 마이클 (ma-i-keul) and Emily becomes 에밀리 (e-mil-li). This converter looks your first and last name up in a built-in list of about 300 common English first names and 110 family names with their usual Korean spellings, and spells other names with simple pronunciation rules, marked as approximate. It also reads the Hangul back in Revised Romanization so you can hear what a Korean speaker would say.

How to use this tool

1. Type your first name and last name in English letters.
2. Choose the most common spelling or the official loanword-rule spelling (they differ for a few names, such as Joseph: 조셉 / 조지프).
3. Read the Hangul and the "sounds like" line.
4. Check names marked approximate with a Korean speaker before using them for a tattoo, sign or print.

Formula

Hangul = known spelling from the name list, or sound-based spelling: each vowel sound gets a syllable, final p/t/k after a short vowel become a bottom consonant (받침), other final consonants get the vowel ㅡ (s → 스, t → 트).

The official spellings follow the Korean loanword orthography (외래어 표기법) of the National Institute of Korean Language: [l] between vowels is doubled (Holly 홀리), a final [p], [t], [k] after a short vowel becomes a 받침 (Mark 마크 is an exception because r lengthens the vowel), and [ʃ] before a vowel is written with ㅅ plus a y-vowel (Shane 셰인).

Example

Emily Smith → 에밀리 스미스 (sounds like e-mil-li seu-mi-seu). Joseph is 조지프 under the official rules but 조셉 in everyday use. A name that is not in the list, such as Holt, is spelled by rule: h-o-l-t → 홀트.