Korean names have almost invariably consisted of three Chinese characters that are pronounced with three Korean syllables. The family name comes first, while the remaining two characters form the given name.

However, this old tradition no longer remains intact. Of course, the majority still follow this tradition, but more and more people make their children's names in pure Korean words that cannot be written in Chinese characters.

But the family names remain unchanged in most cases. Changes are more varied for given names. There are about 300 family names in Korea, but only a handful make up the vast majority of the population. Among the most common family names are Kim, Lee, Pak or Park, An, Jang, Jo or Cho, Choe or Choi, Jung or Cheong, Han, Gang or Kang, Yu or Yoo and Yun or Yoon.

Korean women do not change their family name upon marriage. When Americans call a woman Mrs. Smith; the wife of a man named Smith. In Korea, when a married woman says she is Mrs. Kim, it usually means that her maiden surname is Kim.

Koreans do not refer to others by their given names except among very close friends. Even among siblings, the younger ones are not supposed to address their elders by given names but rather eonni or nuna, meaning elder sister, or oppa or hyeong, meaning elder brother.