Meet a set of Korean brothers or cousins and you may notice that their names rhyme in a particular way: Junho, Junseo and Junwoo, or Minjae, Hyunjae and Seungjae. This is rarely a coincidence. Many Korean families follow a custom in which everyone of the same generation shares one syllable of their given name.
The shared syllable is called a dollimja (돌림자), "the passed-around character," or more formally hangnyeolja (항렬자), "the generation-rank character." This guide explains how the custom works, how the five elements are often used to choose the syllable, and how families treat it today.
Family clans and the genealogy book
To understand generation names, it helps to know how Korean families trace their lineage. A Korean surname is paired with a bon-gwan (본관), the ancestral seat of the clan. Two people named Kim may belong to entirely separate clans, such as the Gimhae Kim and the Gyeongju Kim, because the clan is defined by surname and seat together.
Many clans keep a jokbo (족보), a genealogy book that records members over many generations. Traditionally, the jokbo also set out the generation characters in advance, so that relatives who had never met could tell from a name which generation a person belonged to.
How the generation character is chosen
Clans use several systems, and the five elements are among the most common. In this system each generation's character contains, or is linked to, one element, and successive generations follow the generating cycle: Wood feeds Fire, Fire makes Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal carries Water, and Water nourishes Wood. Our guide to the five elements explains this cycle.
In practice, the link is usually made through the character's radical. A generation might use a character containing the tree component 木, the next a character containing fire 火, then earth 土, then metal 金, then water 水, before returning to Wood. Other clans base their sequence on the ten heavenly stems, on the twelve earthly branches, or on characters for numbers.
Families also commonly alternate the position of the shared syllable. If one generation carries it as the first syllable of the given name, the next often carries it as the second. Over a long family line, this creates a recognisable rhythm.
An illustration
Imagine a fictional family that uses the generating cycle. In one generation the cousins share a character with the Wood radical, written as the first syllable, so their given names all begin with the same sound. Their children's generation moves to Fire and places a Fire-linked character in the second syllable. A grandchild's generation then moves to Earth and returns to the first position.
The example is invented, but the pattern is real: anyone familiar with the clan's list can work out a relative's generation from a single syllable, and the family line moves around the five-element cycle as it grows.
Who followed the custom
Historically, generation names were applied most strictly to sons, because the clan line was recorded through them. Daughters were often given names outside the system, although practice varied between families and regions.
Today the custom is much looser. Some families follow the jokbo carefully, especially for sons. Others keep the shared syllable for siblings only, choose a dollimja of their own, or ignore the system entirely in favour of a name they simply like, including native Korean names that have no hanja at all. Our guide to native Korean names covers that alternative.
Spotting shared syllables in the dictionary
Because generation characters are syllables like any other, you can see the effect in our dictionary. Names such as Junho, Junhee and Junsoo share the syllable Jun, and Jaemin, Seungjae and Jaehoon share Jae. Each name page lists other names sharing a syllable, which is a handy way to see how families build a set of related names.
Remember that a shared sound does not guarantee a shared character. Two names with the syllable Jun may use different hanja, and only families using the same generation character share the written meaning as well as the sound.
Generation names and K-Soul Seal
K-Soul Seal does not assign generation names. Its suggestions come from your birth information, and it does not know your family's clan or genealogy book. If you have Korean heritage and your family uses a dollimja, that syllable may matter more than any recommendation, and it is worth asking relatives before settling on a name.
You can still use the site alongside the custom. Look up the family syllable in our name dictionary to see its possible characters and sound element, then compare it with the element your reading suggests. When you are happy with a name, your Hangul seal will show it exactly as written. You can begin on the main page.