Distinguishing Chinese and Korean (Hanja) names
As you may or may not be aware, most Korean names have corresponding Hanja, aka hanzi. As a learner of Chinese, it can be tricky to tell if a name is Korean or Chinese. But with experience and exposure, you can start to make educated guesses.
Surnames
If you see the surname 朴, it's almost certainly a Korean name. This is the very common surname Park 박.
The following surnames are more common in Korea than in China, so while it's not 100%, it's a strong sign:
金 Kim 김
崔 Choi 최
尹 Yoon 윤
申 Shin 신
权 Kwon 권
柳 Yoo/Ryu 유
全 Jeon/Chun 전
But be warned that there is a lot of overlap of surnames!
Given names
A lot of Korean names use rare characters or characters that are less commonly used in Chinese names.
I put together this (non-exhaustive) list of common characters that signal a name may be Korean. To be clear, there are Chinese people whose names have these characters too. But from what I've seen, they're more common in Korean names, so it's big indicator.
A/Ah 아:娥
Bin 빈:彬
Chae 채:彩
Chan 찬:灿
Da 다:多
Eun 은:银
Geun 근:根
Gi/Ki 기:基
Gyu/Kyu 규:奎
Hee 희:熙、姬、希











