How to Write Your Name in Korean — Hangul Transliteration Guide

Learning how to write your name in Korean — Hangul transliteration is one of the most exciting first steps you can take on your Korean language journey, and it is a lot more achievable than you might think. Unlike Chinese characters, which can take years to master, Hangul — the Korean alphabet — was specifically designed in 1443 by King Sejong to be easy for everyone to learn. In fact, most people can read and write basic Hangul sounds within a single afternoon of focused practice.

When Korean speakers meet a foreigner, one of the first things they love to do is write that person’s name in Hangul. It is a warm, personal gesture — and when you can do it yourself, the reaction you get is priceless. Your name becomes something beautiful and new, a bridge between your world and Korea’s rich culture. This guide is going to walk you through exactly how that works, step by step, starting from absolute zero.

Do not worry if you have never seen a single Korean character before. That is completely fine. By the end of this Hangul transliteration guide, you will understand how Korean sounds are built, how to match them to the sounds in your own name, and how to write your name in Korean with real confidence. Let’s begin.

What Is Hangul? The Korean Alphabet Explained for Absolute Beginners

Hangul — written as 한글 (hangeul) [HAN-geul] — “the Korean alphabet” — is not a set of pictures or symbols representing whole words. It is a true alphabet, just like English, made up of individual letters that represent individual sounds. The genius of Hangul is that each letter is grouped into a block that forms one syllable. So instead of writing letters in a line like E-N-G-L-I-S-H, Korean stacks its letters into neat square blocks. For example, the syllable “han” is written as one block: 한. Inside that block are three letters: ㅎ (h) + ㅏ (a) + ㄴ (n) — stacked together elegantly. Once you see this system, you cannot unsee it, and writing your name in Korean suddenly looks very doable.

The Building Blocks — Korean Consonants and Vowels You Need

To write your name in Korean using Hangul transliteration, you only need to know a small set of consonants and vowels. Every Korean syllable block follows a simple formula: Consonant + Vowel (+ optional final consonant). Think of it like building with LEGO — you snap the pieces together. Here are the most essential Hangul letters for writing foreign names:

The Silent Consonant ㅇ — The Most Important Rule for Writing Your Name

Here is a rule that surprises almost every beginner: in Korean, a vowel cannot stand alone in a syllable block — it always needs a consonant partner. So what happens when your name starts with a vowel sound, like “Amy” or “Eric”? Korean uses a special placeholder consonant called ㅇ (ieung) [EENG] — “silent consonant / placeholder.” When ㅇ appears at the beginning of a syllable block, it makes no sound at all. It is simply a visual seat-holder for the vowel. So “Amy” becomes 에이미 (e-i-mi) [EH-ee-mee] — “Amy in Korean.” The ㅇ at the start of 에 is completely silent. However — and this is important — when ㅇ appears at the bottom of a syllable block, it makes an “ng” sound, like the end of “sing.”

How to Transliterate Your Name — The Step-by-Step Method

Writing your name in Korean using Hangul transliteration is a three-step process. Step 1: Break your name into syllables as you pronounce them in English — not as they are spelled. For example, “Michael” is pronounced MY-kul, so you work with those sounds: my + keol. Step 2: Match each sound to its closest Korean consonant and vowel. Korean does not have all English sounds — there is no exact “v,” “f,” or “th” — so you choose the closest available Korean sound. “F” becomes ㅍ (p/f sound), and “v” becomes ㅂ (b/v sound). Step 3: Stack each consonant-vowel pair into a block and line the blocks up. Let’s see this in action with real names.