korean surnames ?

hi, minako here ! ♡
so well, i've been wanting to write an article about this for quite a while to be honest. i'm into creating ocs and participating in apply fics and there's this thing that has been pissing me off for a century.

you guys do understand that korean surnames do not consist only of kim, park, lee and choi...right?
it's true that they're the most used surnames in korea but as a korean-japanese living in korea since my five years of life i mean; i've met tons of koreans who have different surnames.

so here i will list some of them + some cute extras about them and cool name combinations for you to use when creating ocs (or whatever else) :D

marks:
🌈 — common
🍒— less common/uncommon
🍃 — rare

ONE SYLLABLE
ka (가) — 🍒
kan (간) — 🍒 (baby vox feels man)
kal (갈) — 🍒
kam (감) — 🍒
kang (강) — 🌈
gae (개) — 🍃 (this is probably the less used last name & whoever has this surname is going to be bullied for their whole life bc it literally means dog)
geon (건) — 🍃
kyeon (견) — 🍃
kyung (경) — 🍒
gye (계) — 🍃 (pronounciation is very similar to gae/dog so it's not a very fortunate surname as well rip)
go (고) — 🌈
gok (곡) — 🍃
gong (공) — 🌈
goong (궁) — 🍃
kwak (곽) — 🌈
gwan (관) — 🍃
kyo (교) — 🍃
goo (구) — 🌈
gook (국) — 🍒
goon (군) — 🍃
kwok (궉) — 🍒
kwon (권) — 🌈
geun (근) — 🍃
geum (금) — 🍒
ki (기) — 🍒
gil (길) — 🍒
kim (김) — 🌈 (most common surname in korea)
na (나) — 🌈
nam (남) — 🍒
nang (낭) — 🍃
nae (내) — 🍃 (means my actually lol ;; imagine being called "my _____" ; a cool combo would be nae haneul lmao)
no (노) — 🌈 (if the given name's first syllable is ye (예) for example; yejin and the surname is no which makes the full name no yejin its kinda funny because 노예 (noye) means slave in korean:o)) no is often romanized as roh too
noo (누) — 🍃
da (다) — 🍃
dan (단) — 🍃
dam (담) — 🍃
dang (당) — 🍃 (dAnG lmao)
dae (대) — 🍃
do (도) — 🍒
don (돈) — 🍃 (means $_$)
dong (동) — 🍒 (pronounciation is similar to sh*t lol)
doo (두) — 🍃
ryu (류) — 🌈
ma (마) — 🍒 (ma is often used as a diminutive of 임마 which means rascal/brat + in some contexts can mean hey!?? its similar to yah lol so in conclusion people who have this surname do get a lil bit teased for it but since its a lowkey common one people dont really care that much)
man (만) — 🍃
mae (매) — 🍃
maeng/meng (맹) — 🍒 (people who have this surname most likely have chinese roots in their family)
myung (명) — 🍃
mo (모) — 🍃
mok (목) — 🍃
myo (묘) — 🍃
moo (무) — 🍃 (means radish lmao)
mook (묵) — 🍃
moon (문) — 🌈
mi (미) — 🍃 (the people who have this surname most likely have chinese roots as well)
min (민) — 🌈
park (박) — 🌈
ban (반) — 🍃
bang (방) — 🌈
bae (배) — 🌈
baek (백) — 🌈
beon (번) — 🍃
beom (범) — 🍃
byun (변) — 🍒
bo (보) — 🍃
bok (복) — 🍃
bong (봉) — 🍃
boo (부) — 🍃 (seungkwanie♡)
bi (비) — 🍃 (means rain) → names which start with the syllable 가 (ga) sound the coolest with this surname !!
bin (빈) — 🍃
bing (빙) — 🍃 (people who have this surname most likely have chinese roots)
sa (사) — 🍃
sam (삼) — 🍃
sang (상) — 🍒
seo (서) — 🌈
seok (석) — 🍒
seon (선) — 🍒
seol (설) — 🍃
sung (성) — 🌈
so (소) — 🌈
son (손) — 🌈
song (송) — 🌈
soo (수) — 🍒
soon (순) — 🍃
seung (승) — 🍃
si/shi (시) — 🍃
shin (신) — 🌈
shim (심) — 🍒
ah (아) — 🍃
ahn (안) — 🌈
ae (애) — 🍃
ya (야) — 🍃* (y'all this is awful lmao imagine being called that; it would be so awkward like someone could be saying your full name but it could also be them talking down to you so it's like ?__? omg this surname is super rare in sk though i've never met anyone with this one; people with rare ass last names tend to change them to their mother's because yeah)
yang (양) — 🌈 (means sheep:D)
eo/uh (어) — 🍒
eom/uhm (엄) — 🍃
yeo (여) — 🍒 (coolest with names that start w 보 (bo) cause 여보 (yeobo) which is a pet name between married couples lol its cute:~) or names that start with shin because 여신 means goddess!)
yeon (연) — 🍒
yeom (염) — 🌈
yeob (엽) — 🍃
young (영) — 🍒
ye (예) — 🍃 (people who have this surname most likely have chinese roots in their family)
oh (오) — 🌈
ok (옥) — 🍒
on (온) — 🍃 (name your character something like on doyeon (온도연) and the junction of the surname and the first character of the name (도/do) will literally mean temperature)
ong (옹) — 🍒 (wannables where u at!!)
wang (왕) — 🍒 (wang isn't actually that common +the popular one is hwang)
yo (요) — 🍃 (this sounds so fun lmao; it's super rare though)
yong (용) — 🍒
woo (우) — 🌈
woon (운) — 🍃
won (원) — 🍒
wi (위) — 🍒 (people with this surname usually have chinese roots in their family)
yoo (유) — 🌈
yook (육) — 🌈
yoon (윤) — 🌈
eum (음) — 🍃
eun (은) — 🍃
lee (이) — 🌈 (second most common surname in sk)
in (인) — 🍃
im (임) — 🌈
ja (자) — 🍃* (if anyone wants to name their character after this surname make sure the first character of their name is ji ♡sike no don't do that ew)
jang (장) — 🌈 (can or not have chinese roots (most of the times they don't tho). the chinese ver of this is zhang)
jeo (저) — 🍃 (means that/over there; so for example if you name your character jeo byul it'll mean the star over there lol)
jeon (전) — 🌈 (one funny name would be jeon yeojin as it is similar to 전여친/jeon yeochin which means ex gf)
jeom (점) — 🍃
jung (정) — 🌈
je (제) — 🍃
jo (조) — 🌈  (fun tip: a name like jo ahyoung/jo ahye would be really cute as the junction of the surname and the first character ah sound like (좋아/joah) which means "i like it" or "do you like it?" depending on your intonation !! (also jo ahye sounds dead similar to i like u hehe imagine confessing to someone named this)
jong (종) 🍃
jwa (좌) 🍃 (comes mostly from jeolla and jeju)
joo (주) 🌈
joon (준) 🍃
jeung (증) 🍃 (sUpEr dUpEr RaRe AlmOsT mYsTic)
ji (지) 🍒
jin (진) 🌈 (a nice one syllable name for this would be ju which would form jin joo (진주) = pearl
cha (차) 🍒
chang (창) 🍃
chae (채) 🍒
cheon (천) 🌈 (try something like cheon sarang !! 천사랑 → 천사 (cheonsa) : angel / 사랑 (sarang) : love
choi (최) 🌈
chu (추) 🌈
tan (탄) 🍃 (this is rlly rare as well)
tae (태) 🍃
paeng (팽) 🍃
pyeon (편) 🍃 (cool idea = get ur character a given name that starts w ji ! that'll be 편지_ (pyeonji) →letter
pyung (평) 🍃
po (포) 🍃
pyo (표) 🍃 (pyo hyemi my BBY:c)
pung (풍)
pi (피) 🍃 (this is a gross surname lmao; it means blood and as y'all can guess it is super rare)
pil (필) 🍃 (VERY rare as well)
ha (하) 🌈
hak (학) 🍃 (if their given name starts with saeng it'd literally form haksaeng = student lol hm or maybe name them gyori which would form hakgyo = school lol)
ham (함) 🍒
hae (해) 🍃
heo (허) 🍒
hyun (현) 🌈
hyung (형) 🍃
ho (호) 🍃 (JESSI STANS!!)
hong (홍) 🌈
hwa (화) 🍃
hwan (환) 🍃
hwang (황) 🌈 (get them a name like keumjo and it'll mean = golden jo ! hwang + geum makes the word golden. ex: hwanggeum (golden) maknae which is a nickname given to bts' jeongguk !)
hoo (후) 🍃
heung (흥) 🍃

2 SYLLABLES
[ all of these are rare so I'm not really gonna mark them ! ]
namgoong (남궁) (probs the most used one of this list)
deungjung (등정)
dokgo (독고)
dongbang (동방) (call your character shinki and you're getting dongbangshinki aka tvxq lol)
mangjeol (망절)
moobon (무본)
sagong (사공)
seomun (서문)
seonwoo (선우)
sobong (소봉)
eogeum (어금)
janggok (장곡)
jegal (제갈)
hwangbo (황보)
hwangmok (황목)

and that's all ! there are more but since they're practically in desuse i just decided not to add them here ! hope you find this helpful lovlies ♡