How to write your name in Korean

1. Say your name out loud

Forget the spelling. Hangul is phonetic, so what matters is how your name sounds. Say it slowly and split it into beats: Mi-chael is really "my-kul", So-phi-a is "so-fee-ah".

2. Match each sound to a Hangul letter

Korean does not have every English sound, so some sounds borrow the closest Korean one. Here are the ones you will need most:

English sound	Hangul	Example
b, v	ㅂ	Ben 벤, Victor 빅터
p, f	ㅍ	Paul 폴, Felix 펠릭스
d	ㄷ	David 데이비드
t	ㅌ	Tom 톰
g	ㄱ	Grace 그레이스
k, c (hard)	ㅋ	Kate 케이트
s, th	ㅅ	Sam 샘
j, z	ㅈ	Jake 제이크, Zoe 조이
ch	ㅊ	Charlie 찰리
l, r	ㄹ	Lily 릴리, Ryan 라이언
m, n, h	ㅁ, ㄴ, ㅎ	Mia 미아, Nora 노라, Henry 헨리
ng (at the end)	ㅇ	Young 영

And the vowels:

Sounds like	Hangul	Sounds like	Hangul
a in "father"	ㅏ	ee in "see"	ㅣ
e in "bed"	ㅔ	oo in "food"	ㅜ
o in "go"	ㅗ	u in "but"	ㅓ
a in "cat"	ㅐ	"ay", "eye"	에이, 아이

3. Build syllable blocks

Hangul letters are grouped into square blocks, one per syllable. Each block starts with a consonant, has a vowel, and can end with one more consonant. If a syllable starts with a vowel sound, it begins with the silent circle ㅇ: "Emma" becomes 엠마, "Anna" becomes 애나.

Two rules catch most people out:

• Consonant clusters get a helper vowel. Korean syllables cannot start with two consonants, so English clusters like "Chr" or "Sm" add the soft vowel ㅡ: Chris is 크리스, Smith is 스미스.
• Final sounds often get their own block. A final "s", "ch" or "ce" usually becomes 스, 치 or 스 on its own: James is 제임스, Grace is 그레이스.

Common names in Korean

Name	Korean	Name	Korean
Michael	마이클	Sophia	소피아
James	제임스	Olivia	올리비아
David	데이비드	Emma	엠마
Daniel	대니얼	Emily	에밀리
Chris	크리스	Jennifer	제니퍼

There can be more than one right answer

Names travel by ear, so the same name can be spelled a few ways. Sarah is often 사라 but also 세라; Anna can be 애나 or 안나. All of them will be understood. If you are using your name somewhere permanent, like a tattoo, ask a native Korean speaker to check it first.