• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 15:11
CEST 21:11
KST 04:11
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out2RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-2212Weekly Cups (July 27-Aug 2): SHIN's big week0SC4ALL II: Brood War - $2500 - Dec 5-69SC4ALL II announced - $10,000 prize pool, Dec 5-64
StarCraft 2
General
SC4ALL II: StarCraft 2 Player Announcement 5/8 Weekly Cups (Aug 3-9): Protoss get shut out SC4ALL: II Talent Announcement! Protoss AoE skill expression August World Ranking: Clem climbs to #2
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 8.0! (13 - 23 August) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Tasteless Time Warp: SC Evo Showmatch (May 25)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 538 Media Blackout The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 537 Hostile Territory Mutation # 536 Railroad Switch
Brood War
General
ASL22 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Are you ready for ASL 22? NEW HYPE VIDEO How FlaSh Nearly Forfeited MSL Finals being late
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues 2v2v2v2 Tournament KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3 Escore Tournament - Season 3
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Any training maps people recommend? Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread EVE Corporation Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Diablo 2 thread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank TL Mafia Community Thread NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Iain M Banks Says He Has Cancer And Months To Live The Letting Off Steam Thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread Series you have seen recently... [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread NBA General Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
Are High-Level Gamers more A…
TrAiDoS
Cathedral Of CS And NY pizza a…
FuDDx
Please support my new stand…
Peanutsc
Hello guys!
LIN1s
ASL S22 English Commentary…
namkraft
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 5699 users

Basic Korean question (Names)

Blogs > HuskyTheHusky
Post a Reply
Husky
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States3362 Posts
July 04 2009 22:22 GMT
#1
I have been trying to notice basic patterns in the Korean language to try and understand the very very basics of what I see on the screen during live casts.

One thing I've noticed is that everyones name seems to be 3 symbols. Is this always the case? If so why?

Also, HAPPY 4TH!

Thanks

***
Commentaries: youtube.com/HuskyStarcraft
JWD
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States12607 Posts
July 04 2009 22:25 GMT
#2
Not always the case — for example, (P)Nal_rA is Kang Min.
✌
GhostKorean
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States2330 Posts
July 04 2009 22:34 GMT
#3
Usually your last name is one character followed by two characters for your first name. (In reverse order, last name then first)
For example: Lee Jaedong = 이 (Lee) 재 (Jae) 동 (Dong)
As JWD pointed out, some people can have more or less characters in their name, like Nal_rA.
GTR
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
51673 Posts
July 04 2009 22:36 GMT
#4
It's similar to how Chinese names have evolved over the past few years.

It was common in the early days to have just two symbols for your name, but now three is the standard with some rare exceptions.
Commentator
Solinren
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States2653 Posts
July 04 2009 22:53 GMT
#5
On July 05 2009 07:36 GTR wrote:
It's similar to how Chinese names have evolved over the past thousand of years.

It was common in the early days to have just two symbols for your name, but now three is the standard with some rare exceptions.

I have a 3 character name, first character is your surname. The other characters given to you will have a meaning behind it most of the time. So there really isnt a standard of having only 3 characters, because some have a surname of 2 characters as well. So they might end up with having 4 characters name.
Roffles *
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
Pitcairn19291 Posts
July 04 2009 23:22 GMT
#6
On July 05 2009 07:53 Solinren wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 05 2009 07:36 GTR wrote:
It's similar to how Chinese names have evolved over the past thousand of years.

It was common in the early days to have just two symbols for your name, but now three is the standard with some rare exceptions.

I have a 3 character name, first character is your surname. The other characters given to you will have a meaning behind it most of the time. So there really isnt a standard of having only 3 characters, because some have a surname of 2 characters as well. So they might end up with having 4 characters name.


But very rarely do you see 4 characters in a name. 3 seems to be the standard norm these days, with 2 still somewhat around.
God Bless
illu
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada2531 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-05 00:00:08
July 04 2009 23:56 GMT
#7
Google is the best.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_names


Basically, almost all of Korean family names have Chinese origin, and given names are given similarly to how Chinese parents would give their children names. Thus given names usually have 2 syllables, family names usually have 1 syllable, and that makes 3 in total.
:]
illu
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada2531 Posts
July 05 2009 00:16 GMT
#8
My impression is that most Koreans now-a-days are illiterate in hanji and mixed scripts are now rare. So sooner or later Chinese-like given names will be abandoned.
:]
Wala.Revolution
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
7584 Posts
July 05 2009 00:49 GMT
#9
A a very few families in Korea have two-chracter surname, such as Nam-Goong (남궁) which often gives the members four-chracter names.
Stuck.
Wala.Revolution
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
7584 Posts
July 05 2009 00:51 GMT
#10
On July 05 2009 09:16 illu wrote:
My impression is that most Koreans now-a-days are illiterate in hanji and mixed scripts are now rare. So sooner or later Chinese-like given names will be abandoned.


I thought most people go to these "Do-SA" people (or some equivalent) to make names for them?
Stuck.
GTR
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
51673 Posts
July 05 2009 00:55 GMT
#11
On July 05 2009 09:49 Wala.Revolution wrote:
A a very few families in Korea have two-chracter surname, such as Nam-Goong (남궁) which often gives the members four-chracter names.


there was also a progamer with the surname Hwang-Bo (황보), 황보건우 ((Z)zergjoaa)
Commentator
illu
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada2531 Posts
July 05 2009 00:57 GMT
#12
On July 05 2009 09:51 Wala.Revolution wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 05 2009 09:16 illu wrote:
My impression is that most Koreans now-a-days are illiterate in hanji and mixed scripts are now rare. So sooner or later Chinese-like given names will be abandoned.


I thought most people go to these "Do-SA" people (or some equivalent) to make names for them?


I think there is a standard booklet or something for this.
:]
Radical
Profile Blog Joined March 2007
United States481 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-05 03:32:19
July 05 2009 03:31 GMT
#13
I've always wondered about this: When you have a name like Ma Jae Yoon, for example, how would you address this person if you were speaking to him? Would you address him as "Jae Yoon"? I think in VODs I've heard the commentators saying the players' full names, like I was recently watching an old Reach VOD, and I kept hearing the commentators yelling "Park Jung Suk" throughout the match. This just seems a little strange to me though, since in the west we don't refer to each other by our full names (first + last), except for in sports commentating.
illu
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada2531 Posts
July 05 2009 04:05 GMT
#14
I think it's like Ma Jaeyoon-sensou or something like that..... literally "Player Ma Jaeyoon".
:]
Husky
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States3362 Posts
July 05 2009 04:58 GMT
#15
Pretty interesting, thanks for the insight guys.

Also thanks for the wikipedia article, wasnt even something I'd think to check on there.
Commentaries: youtube.com/HuskyStarcraft
520
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States2822 Posts
July 05 2009 05:24 GMT
#16
It makes me wonder - when Chinese people read Korean names, they just use the Chinese reading of the Korean hanja. But when Koreans read Chinese names, they try to emulate the sounds as much as possible. Is there a reason for this?
Writer
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 4h 49m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
UpATreeSC 157
ProTech93
BRAT_OK 89
MindelVK 31
JuggernautJason29
EmSc Tv 6
StarCraft: Brood War
Sexy 25
Dota 2
qojqva2573
XcaliburYe65
Counter-Strike
fl0m1906
pashabiceps1100
shoxiejesuss781
Super Smash Bros
C9.Mang0136
Mew2King105
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu319
Other Games
Grubby1992
FrodaN1082
Beastyqt799
ceh9485
uThermal136
White-Ra129
mouzStarbuck118
QueenE73
Trikslyr56
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV113
StarCraft 2
EmSc Tv 6
EmSc2Tv 6
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Reevou 7
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 2
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV675
League of Legends
• Shiphtur1038
• Scarra334
Counter-Strike
• Nemesis1291
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
4h 49m
Replay Cast
13h 49m
Kung Fu Cup
15h 49m
Replay Cast
1d 4h
The PondCast
1d 14h
OSC
1d 17h
Replay Cast
2 days
Escore
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
[ Show More ]
OSC
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Rush vs Hm
Bisu vs Shuttle
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
The Patches Monday
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Sharp vs Shinee
Action vs Shine
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-08-10
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
Acropolis #5
RSL Revival: Season 6
Esports World Cup 2026: LCQ
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W7
CSLAN 4
ASL Season 22
Escore Tournament S3: W8
Acropolis #5 - TRS
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Acropolis #5 - GSA
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
PiG Sty Festival 8.0
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1
META DYMY #4
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Thunderpick World Champ.
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
Logitech G Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.