Your name in Korean, ready to save
Type your name. See how Korea spells it. Save it as a seal, a name tag or a wallpaper.
Showing an example. Type your own name above.
If a Korean friend spells your name another way, type their spelling here.
Before it goes on skin, ask a Korean speaker to check the spelling, and let your tattoo artist adapt the drawing to the placement.
Free for personal and commercial use. The palace-brush font is Chosun Gungseo, free under the Chosun Ilbo’s terms. The other eleven are under the SIL Open Font License.
How the spelling is chosen
Korean is written by sound, so a name is spelled the way it is said, not letter by letter. The tool checks three things in order and tells you which one it used.
- Official spelling
- Korea’s National Institute of Korean Language publishes how foreign names are written in Korean. If your name is in those examples, you get that spelling first. Daniel is 대니얼 there. Many Koreans write 다니엘, so that is offered as a second choice.
- By sound
- For other names the tool looks up the English pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary (about 117,000 words) and applies the Korean rules for writing foreign words. That is why Sean becomes 숀 and not 세안.
- Estimate
- If the name is in neither list, the tool reads the spelling. Treat it as a starting point and ask a Korean speaker if it matters.
About the seal
A 도장 (dojang) is the name seal Koreans press in red ink where others would sign. The characters run top to bottom, and columns run right to left. Names with three characters often add 인, which means “seal”, so that all four corners are filled.
The image made here is a picture for cards, stickers, profile photos and gifts. It is not a registered legal seal.
Why some fonts are switched off for some names
Korean has 11,172 possible syllable blocks, and several display fonts draw only the 2,350 most common ones. If your name uses a syllable a font does not have, that font is switched off so your image never shows a mismatched letter.
Questions
Is this my Korean name?
It is your own name written in the Korean alphabet. A Korean name, a family name such as 김 with a chosen given name, is a different thing.
Which spelling should I use for a tattoo or engraving?
Show both spellings to a Korean speaker first. The official one is what a newspaper would print. The other is what friends are likely to write.
Can I use the image on products?
Yes. Eleven of the fonts are published under the SIL Open Font License, and Chosun Gungseo is offered free to individuals and companies by the Chosun Ilbo. Both allow commercial use, and the image you make is yours.