Korean name facts for kids
Korean names have changed over time. This article mainly talks about names in South Korea. Names in North Korea might be a bit different.
Most Korean names still follow old traditions. But since the late 1970s, some parents have started using native Korean words for their children's names. These names usually have two parts. More and more babies in South Korea got these types of names between 2008 and 2015. Even with these new names, official papers still show names in both hangul (the Korean alphabet) and hanja (Chinese characters), if they have them.
Before 1993, there was no rule about how long a name could be. Some people even had very long names made of native Korean words. For example, one name had 16 syllables! It meant "More beloved than the stars in the sky and the sun in the clouds." But in 1993, new rules said that a given name must be five syllables or shorter.
Contents
How Korean Names Are Made
Korean names usually have two main parts. One part is the family name, and the other is the given name.
Family Name First
Let's look at the name "Park Chan-Ho". Here, "Park" is the family name. "Chan-Ho" is the given name. In the Korean language, the family name always comes first. This is different from how names are usually written in English, like "John Smith." It's more like saying "Smith John." Most Koreans feel uncomfortable if you call them by their given name first, or by only their family name.
Names After Marriage
When a man and a woman get married in Korea, they usually keep their own full names. They do not change their family names. Their children will then take the father's family name. For example, if Ha Hi-Ra (the mother) and Choi Su-Jong (the father) have a son, his family name will be Choi.
Korean Nicknames
Koreans do have nicknames. But these are often based on how a person looks or acts. Sometimes, a nickname might sound similar to part of their real name. These nicknames are different from common Western nicknames like "Bob" or "Liz."
It's actually more common for Koreans to have nicknames that are not very flattering. Once people grow up, they are rarely called by their nicknames.
Images for kids
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Ban Ki-moon in Davos, Switzerland. In English, Korean names are often written with the family name first, as shown here (Ban is the family name).
See also
In Spanish: Onomástica coreana para niños
