Kenji in Korean 겐지
Korean media, baristas and the immigration office write Kenji as 겐지: two syllables, said gen-ji. Here's how it's built, how to say it, and what people will call you.
Kenji letter by letter
Each Hangul block is one syllable, built from a consonant, a vowel and sometimes a final consonant underneath.
ㄱ at the start is soft and unvoiced, halfway between k and g.
- Two even beats, gen-ji: Korean doesn't stress one syllable over the other the way English does.
How Koreans would call you
Korean given names are almost always two syllables, so 겐지 already sounds natural to Korean ears. With foreign names some Koreans skip 야 and just say 겐지 or 겐지 씨.
Why it's spelled 겐지
Spelled letter-by-letter you'd get 켄지, but Korean media write 겐지, because the name is written the way it sounds in Japanese, not the way it's spelled.
- Korean writes Japanese names with its own Japanese table: k, t and ch at the start of a word become ㄱ, ㄷ and ㅈ (Kenji → 겐지), each Japanese syllable maps to one Hangul syllable and long vowels are not marked.
Type Kenji on a Korean keyboard
On the standard two-set (두벌식) layout, 겐지 is the jamo ㄱㅔㄴ ㅈㅣ, typed with the keys rps wl. Want to get fast at it? Try the Hangul Typing Test.
Similar names in Korean
Write any name in Hangul
Questions people ask
How do you write Kenji in Korean?
Kenji is written 겐지 in Hangul (Revised Romanization: genji). It is the standard spelling Korean media use for the name and follows the Japanese pronunciation. In Hangul it has two syllables: 겐 + 지.
How do you pronounce Kenji in Korean?
Say it gen-ji, with even weight on every syllable. ㄱ at the start is soft and unvoiced, halfway between k and g.
Spellings follow the National Institute of Korean Language loanword rules and common Korean media usage. Last checked: October 2026.