Writing your name in Korean – how it works

You can read Hangul now – but how do you actually write your own name with it? That question is almost always the next one, and the answer is a pleasant one: there are only a handful of rules. If you do not know the Korean characters yet, the best thing is to start with our guide to learning Hangul – that really does take only an hour. Everyone else, straight in.

1. Think in syllables, not in letters

That is the most important difference. In German we string letters one after another, in Korean they are stacked into syllable blocks. Say your name out loud once, slowly, and pay attention to where a syllable ends: An-na, Ma-ri-e, Se-bas-ti-an.

Exactly these syllables become blocks. And because it is about sound and not about spelling, German orthography no longer matters from here on – what is decisive is how the name sounds.

2. Some sounds do not exist in Korean

The Korean sound system is smaller than the German one. A few letters therefore have no direct equivalent and get replaced:

Letter	Becomes	Why
F	ㅍ (p)	Korean has no F – the ㅍ comes closest to it.
V, W	ㅂ (b)	Both sound like a W in German, and that is what the ㅂ stands for.
Z	ㅊ (ch)	The German Z is a ts sound, which the ㅊ hits best.
L and R	ㄹ	A single character for both sounds – more of an R at the start of a syllable, more of an L at the end.
X	ㄱ + 스	X is a K plus an S, so it turns into two building blocks.
Sch	슈	Written as a syllable of its own, for example at the start of Stefan.
Ch (as in the German “ich”)	ㅎ (h)	Korean does not have this fricative, the ㅎ stands in for it.

That also explains why Philipp becomes 필립 in Korean: the F turns into a ㅍ, and the two Ps at the end are pulled together into a single sound.

3. Every syllable needs a vowel – that is what the ㅡ is for

A syllable block without a vowel does not work. In German, though, several consonants constantly stand next to each other: the “x” in Max, the “st” in Stefan, the “s” at the end of Thomas.

The solution is the ㅡ, a dull “eu” that you barely hear. It serves as an emergency vowel so that lonely consonants get a block of their own. Max thus becomes 막스 – “mak” plus “seu”. The hard final S of Thomas becomes 스, and the name ends in 토마스.

4. Does the syllable start with a vowel? Then the ㅇ goes in front

The opposite happens too: a syllable with no initial consonant at all. Because a block always begins with a consonant slot, the ㅇ steps in here – the empty circle that has no sound of its own.

Anna begins with an A, so a ㅇ stands in front of the 아 and the first block becomes 안. Behind it follows 나, and 안나 is finished. The same rule applies with Emma (엠마) and in the middle of Michael (미하엘).

5. Twelve German names as an example

Maybe yours is among them – and if not, you are sure to find the right structure in the pattern:

Name	In Korean	Read as
Anna	안나	an-na
Emma	엠마	em-ma
Lena	레나	re-na
Max	막스	mak-seu
Jonas	요나스	yo-na-seu
Thomas	토마스	to-ma-seu
Laura	라우라	ra-u-ra
Philipp	필립	pil-lip
Julia	율리아	yul-li-a
Felix	펠릭스	pel-lik-seu
Michael	미하엘	mi-ha-el
Stefan	슈테판	syu-te-pan

Two things stand out. With Philipp and Julia the ㄹ turns up twice: if an L stands between two vowels, it spreads over the end of one block and the beginning of the next. And with Stefan the “St” at the start of the word becomes a 슈 of its own, because in German we do pronounce it “Scht”.

6. Now you

Three names to decipher – all built by the rules above:

In Korean	Which name is this?
니나	__________
다비트	__________
마르틴	__________

And then the real test: say your own name out loud, break it down into syllables, replace the sounds that do not exist, and stack the characters into blocks. Feel free to write the result to us in the comments.

One note to finish

What you get here is a good approximation – not an official transcription. For foreign words there is an official set of rules in South Korea from the National Institute of Korean Language, and some well-known names have fixed spellings there that depart from pure sound logic. For home use, for greeting cards or for the first chat in Korean, our method is entirely enough. Before you have something tattooed, though, better ask someone who speaks the language.

By the way: the next time you pick up a pack of Korean instant noodles, you can read the name yourself. 불닭볶음면 is what it says on the well-known spicy noodles and literally means “fire chicken fried noodles” – the 닭 even has a double final consonant, one of the special rules we left out in the Hangul guide. You will find more reading material on our Buldak topic page and among the other Korean products.