5 Female K-Pop Idols With Uncommon But Beautiful Korean First Names

Korean names usually follow a pretty typical system of three characters, with about 5 last names making up 50% of the population and nothing too crazy for the first. However, like any culture, some parents want to give their child a unique name, one that will make them stand out and bring them success!

These 6 female idols’ parents truly understood the assignment!

1. WJSN’s Luda (Lee Lu Da)

When you look at Luda’s name, you may not get any special meaning from it. However, when you combine it with her last name, it all together creates the verb “to achieve!” While her name looks uniquely beautiful, it also gives her great fortune for the now and later.

2. Sunmi (Sun Mi)

When we all first met Sunmi, we most likely thought “Sunmi” was either her stage name or her first name when in fact, it’s neither! Although she has now legally changed her name to Lee Sun Mi, her real name was just Sun Mi! That’s right; Sun is actually her last name while Mi is her first name. Her name is unique in two ways; first of all, a one-character first name is quite uncommon, and that name being “Mi” is even less common. Secondly, out of South Korea’s population of about 52 million people, only about 42,850 have the last name “Sun” (also romanized as Seon).

3. Girls’ Generation’s Sunny (Lee Soon Kyu)

Soon Kyu doesn’t sound that odd, and it’s not! In fact, it was the seventh most popular name in the 1960s. However, that’s the problem. The popularity of the name rapidly declined and is now often considered an old-fashioned name by Koreans. Although Sunny helped revive the name a bit, it is still quite uncommon with the newer generations of Koreans.

4. 2NE1’s Dara (Park San Da Ra)

Many Westerners thought that Sandara was Dara’s English name, as it’s close to the common English name “Sandra.” However, this is actually her Korean name! Three character long first names are very uncommon, and even some Koreans first thought that her last name was San! Her name is actually quite lovely as it means “wise and clever.”

5. LOONA’s Kim Lip (Kim Jong Eun)

Yes, just reading it, you can probably guess why this is an uncommon name. Kim Lip’s real name is, in fact, the same as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (just romanized differently). Although there are South Koreans with this name, it has understandably dropped in popularity.