Jiwon 지원

Jiwon name meaning: “wisdom + first” (智元)

Jiwon is a Korean given name, used for any gender. In hangul it is written 지원. Like most Korean names it can also be written in hanja, and the characters chosen decide what it means — the same sound can be written 3,196 different ways.

Liz of IVE: Kim Ji-won is the real name of Liz, a vocalist of IVE — Jiwon is the real given name behind her stage name.

Other spellings

The same name is romanized in several ways: Jiwon, Ji-won. They are all 지원.

How to pronounce Jiwon

지원
Voice:

Say it as jee-wuhn (2 syllables). Korean doesn't stress one syllable the way English does, so give each beat roughly the same weight rather than saying JEE-wuhn.

  • The romanized "eo" is pronounced "uh", close to the vowel in "sun", not "ee-oh".
  • At the very start of the name, g, d, b and j are lighter than in English, halfway toward k, t, p and ch.

The recording is a synthesized standard Seoul voice; the respelling above is an English approximation of it. More on the rules: how to pronounce Korean names. To hear more spoken Korean, try Korean greetings with audio.

Five Elements (Ohaeng)

In Korean naming tradition each syllable carries an element, decided by the consonant it starts with. This is what a name sounds like in terms of energy.

  • 지 (starts with ㅈ)→Metalclarity, resolve, refinement
  • 원 (starts with ㅇ)→Earthsteadiness, trust, holding things together

Hanja used for Jiwon

These are hanja characters legally registrable for each syllable, with their dictionary meanings. A parent picks one character per syllable, and that combination becomes the written meaning of the name.

지68 characters can be used

  • 智wisdom슬기 지
  • 知know알 지
  • 地ground, earth땅 지
  • 志will, purpose뜻 지
  • 至reach이를 지
  • 池pond못 지
  • 枝branch가지 지
  • 芝zhi herb지초 지

원47 characters can be used

  • 元first, prime으뜸 원
  • 原hill, source언덕 원/근원 원
  • 源source근원 원
  • 園garden동산 원
  • 媛woman여자 원
  • 苑royal garden나라 동산 원
  • 遠far멀 원
  • 願wish원할 원

Jiwon name FAQ

What does Jiwon mean in Korean?
A popular way to write Jiwon (지원) is 智 (wisdom) + 元 (first), giving the meaning "wisdom + first". The meaning depends on the hanja the parents choose — 지원 can be written 3,196 different ways.
Is Jiwon a Korean name?
Yes. Jiwon is a Korean given name written 지원 in hangul, used for both boys and girls.
How do you write Jiwon in Korean?
In hangul it is 지원; a common hanja spelling is 智元. It is also romanized as Ji-won.
What element is the name Jiwon?
By its sounds, Jiwon carries Metal + Earth in the Five Elements (Ohaeng) of Korean naming.

Names sharing a syllable

Jiwon belongs to someone else. Yours is drawn from your own birth chart — the four pillars of your birth date and hour decide which elements your name should carry.

Find your Korean name