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MCT 2000 + passport convention

Names, places, brand names — one per line. See both romanizations side by side.

HangeulMCT 2000(jamo-level)Passport(MOFA convention)
홍길동honggildongHong Gildong
김민수gimminsuKim Minsu
이서윤iseoyunLee Seoyun
황보영hwangboyeongHwangbo Yeong
박지훈bakjihunPark Jihun
The passport mapping covers 50 surnames + 8 compound. Others fall back to MCT — compare against family spellings.

When to use it

Lining up family English-name spellings before a Korean passport application, picking how your name renders on an English résumé / business card / conference badge, or romanizing Korean people, places, and institutions for a foreign-language document.

Two systems, side by side

  • MCT 2000 — the National Institute of Korean Language standard (revised in 2000). Direct jamo-level conversion. Used for academic citations, place names, and institutional spellings (e.g. 김 → Gim, 이 → I, 박 → Bak).
  • Passport convention — the de-facto English-name custom in Korean passports (e.g. 김 → Kim, 이 → Lee, 박 → Park). Prioritizes family-name consistency and English-speaker pronunciation.

The same Hangeul renders two different ways — at-a-glance comparison to pick the system that matches your case.

Mapping coverage

Passport convention: 50 single-character + 8 compound surnames.

Compound (8): 황보 · 사공 · 남궁 · 선우 · 제갈 · 독고 · 동방 · 서문.

Single (50, by Korean population share): 김 · 이 · 박 · 최 · 정 · 강 · 조 · 윤 · 장 · 임 · 한 · 오 · 서 · 신 · 권 · 황 · 안 · 송 · 전 · 홍 · 유 · 고 · 문 · 양 · 손 · 배 · 백 · 허 · 남 · 심 · 노 · 하 · 곽 · 성 · 차 · 주 · 우 · 구 · 민 · 진 · 지 · 엄 · 채 · 원 · 천 · 방 · 공 · 현 · 함 · 변.

Surnames outside that map fall back to MCT 2000 — compare against the family's existing English spelling.

V1 limitation — no phonological assimilation

Final-onset assimilation (e.g. '독립' should be the MCT-correct 'dongnip', not the literal 'doglib') is not modeled. For precise academic spellings, double-check the output.

Privacy

Names you type while preparing a passport application are not transmitted. Jamo decomposition ((cp - 0xAC00) arithmetic) and table lookup happen client-side. Zero external calls.

Not the right tool when

  • Official passport issuance — this is a reference. Korean passports are hard to change once issued; defer to family spellings and any prior passport.
  • North Korean orthography — only South Korean standards (MCT 2000
    • MOFA passport) are modeled. Pyongyang romanization is separate.
  • Long-vowel marks — Korean orthography doesn't carry length information. Macron-style marks (Tōkyō) vary by source and are not applied here.

Names stay on the page

Names you type while preparing a passport application, an English résumé, a business card, or a conference attendance form are not transmitted. Jamo decomposition and table lookup happen client-side; zero external calls.

Frequently asked questions

How do the two systems differ?
MCT 2000 is jamo-level direct conversion (Gim, I, Bak). It's the standard for academic citations, place names, and institutional spellings. Passport convention follows the de-facto English-name spellings used in Korean passports (Kim, Lee, Park) — it prioritizes family-name consistency and English-speaker pronunciation.
Why does the same Hangeul produce different spellings?
MCT romanization was revised in 1984 then 2000. Passport names are picked by the applicant once and rarely changed, so people inherit family / relative spellings — that's how the convention persists. The two systems exist for different purposes; asking which is 'correct' is the wrong question.
Are compound surnames (Hwangbo, Sagong, Namgung, …) handled?
Eight compound surnames are mapped (황보 · 사공 · 남궁 · 선우 · 제갈 · 독고 · 동방 · 서문). If the first two characters match a compound, those two are the surname and the rest is the given name. Otherwise only the first character is treated as the surname.
What about phonological changes (receiving ㄹ + onset ㄹ → ll, etc.)?
V1 only does direct jamo conversion. Final-onset assimilation (e.g. '독립' → MCT-correct 'dongnip', not the literal 'doglib') is not modeled. For precise academic spellings, double-check the output.
Surnames not in the passport mapping (e.g. 변)?
Currently 50 surnames + 8 compound. Less-common ones fall back to MCT 2000 — which may not match what your family uses. Compare against existing family spellings, and let us know on GitHub if a surname is missing.