Convert Korean names (한글) to English with passport-style formatting and common spelling variants
Enter a Korean name above to see results.
Romanizing Korean Names: Rules vs. Reality
The official system
The National Institute of Korean Language's Revised Romanization spells by sound: 김 → Gim, 박 → Bak, 이 → I. But personal names widely keep customary spellings — Kim, Park, Lee dominate passports and are fully accepted.
What matters for passports
A passport's romanized name is extremely hard to change once set — flights, visas, and foreign bank accounts all bind to it.
Keep the family-name spelling consistent across relatives; a father 'Park' and child 'Bak' complicates proving kinship abroad.
Two-syllable given names may be joined (Minjun) or hyphenated (Min-jun); either is fine, but stay consistent everywhere afterward.
This tool outputs the standard-rule romanization; weigh it against customary passport spellings (Kim/Lee/Park) before committing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Korean passports use the format: SURNAME in uppercase, followed by a comma, then the given name with the first letter capitalized. For example, 김민준 becomes KIM, Min-jun. You choose one romanization and it stays on your passport permanently.
While the Revised Romanization standard would spell it as 'I', the conventional passport spelling 'Lee' has been widely used for decades. Korean surnames follow traditional spellings rather than strict phonetic rules. Other common variants include Yi and Rhee.
Generally, once you set your English name on a Korean passport, it cannot be changed easily. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs allows changes only in specific circumstances, such as obvious errors. Choose your romanization carefully before your first passport application.
Revised Romanization (RR) is the official system used by the South Korean government since 2000. McCune-Reischauer (MR) uses diacritical marks and was the previous standard. For example, 부산 is 'Busan' in RR but 'Pusan' in MR. Personal names on passports can use either system.
Korean surnames were romanized before any standard system existed, leading to multiple conventions. For example, 박 can be Park (most common), Pak, or Bak (Revised Romanization). Families often follow their own traditional spelling, passed down through generations.
The recommended format is to hyphenate the two syllables with only the first letter capitalized: Min-jun, not Minjun or Min-Jun. This follows Korean passport conventions and helps non-Korean speakers pronounce the name correctly.
While the Revised Romanization standard spells it as 'Gim', the conventional and overwhelmingly common spelling is 'Kim'. Nearly all Korean people with this surname use 'Kim' on their passports and in international contexts.
Some Korean surnames have two characters, such as 남궁 (Namgung), 독고 (Dokgo), 사공 (Sagong), and 제갈 (Jegal). These are treated as a single surname unit. There are about 10-15 such compound surnames in use today.
When a syllable-final consonant meets the next syllable's initial consonant, sound changes can occur (e.g., ㄴ+ㄹ→ㄹ+ㄹ). However, for personal names, these phonological rules are often ignored in favor of spelling each syllable independently for consistency.
Yes! Use the 'English → Korean' tab to enter a romanized Korean surname (like Kim, Lee, Park), and the tool will show you the possible Korean (한글) spellings. Note that reverse lookup works best for surnames, as given name romanization is more ambiguous.
김 (Kim) is the most common Korean surname, shared by approximately 21.5% of the population (about 10 million people). The top 5 surnames — Kim (김), Lee (이), Park (박), Choi (최), and Jung (정) — account for over 50% of the Korean population.
For passport and official documents, hyphens are standard for two-syllable given names (e.g., Min-jun). In casual use, you can write it without hyphens (Minjun) or with spaces (Min Jun). The key is consistency — pick one format and stick with it.