Dutch names in Korean 네덜란드어 이름

Why Peter is 페터르 in Dutch

An e in the last syllable of a longer word is 어 (Section 20, rule 10), and a final r is 르 (Table 18: Asser 아서르), so the Dutch Peter is 페터르. The German Peter is 페터 and the English one 피터.

Common Dutch first names

The Dutch first names that appear most often in the records, with the spelling the institute uses.

Dutch surnames

Most surnames appear only once or twice in the records. These are the ones recorded for more than one person, followed by the surnames of some well-known people.

The same name in other languages

A name keeps the sound it has in its own language, so names shared by several languages are spelled differently in Korean. All spellings below are from the official records; other-language spellings are shown when at least two people have them.

How Dutch names are written in Korean

Dutch names (including Flemish names from Belgium) are written with Table 18 (표 18) and the fifteen special rules in Chapter 3, Section 20 (제3장 제20절 네덜란드어의 표기). The special rules, with the official examples:

1. p, t, k — Before a consonant or at the end of a word they are the final ㅂ, ㅅ, ㄱ — but after a diphthong or a long (doubled) vowel, or next to l, r, m, n, they are 프, 트, 크. Official examples: Wit 빗, Gennip 헤닙, Kapteyn 캅테인, Hoop 호프, Eijkman 에이크만.
2. b, d — At the end of a word they are 프 and 트. Inside a word they are 브 and 드 next to l, r, m, n or after a diphthong or long vowel, and the final ㅂ and ㅅ otherwise. Official examples: Jakob 야코프, Koenraad 쿤라트, Hendrik 헨드릭, Edgar 엣하르.
3. v — At the start of a word v is ㅍ or 프; elsewhere ㅂ or 브. Official examples: Veltman 펠트만, Vries 프리스, Grave 흐라버.
4. c — c appears in borrowed words and is ㅋ or ㅅ, as in the language it comes from. Official examples: Nicolaas 니콜라스, Franciscus 프란시스퀴스.
5. g, ch — g and ch are ㅎ (borrowed words follow their own language). Official examples: Haag 하흐, Hooch 호흐, Volcher 폴허르, Michael 미카엘.
6. -tie — A final -tie is 시. Official examples: natie 나시, politie 폴리시.
7. l — Inside a word before a vowel, or before m or n with no vowel after them, l is ㄹㄹ; after m or n it is a single ㄹ. Official examples: Tiele 틸러, Zalm 잘름, Venlo 펜로.
8. nk — An n before k is the final ㅇ. Official examples: Frank 프랑크, Hiddink 히딩크.
9. Double consonants — Written like single ones. Official examples: Hobbema 호베마, Emmen 에먼.
10. e — e is 에, but in the last syllable of a longer word and at the end of a word it is 어. Official examples: Breda 브레다, Peter 페터르, Heineken 헤이네컨, Campen 캄펀.
11. Double vowels — Written like single ones — except ee, which is 에이. Official examples: Hooch 호흐, Kees 케이스, Meerssen 메이르선.
12. -ig — A final -ig is 어흐. Official examples: tachtig 타흐터흐.
13. -berg — -berg is 베르흐. Official examples: Duisenberg 다위센베르흐, Mengelberg 멩엘베르흐.
14. over- — over- is 오버르. Official examples: overkomst 오버르콤스트.
15. è, é, ê, ë, ï — è, é, ê and ë are 에; ï is 이. Official examples: carré 카레, casuïst 카수이스트.

Letters to know

From 표 18, the table of Dutch letters:

Source: 외래어 표기법 (Rules for writing foreign words in Korean), National Institute of Korean Language — 제3장 제20절 and 표 18. Names and counts: the institute’s 외래어 표기 용례 records of people, as published on korean.go.kr (read October 2026).

Dutch-speaking people in the records

A few of the people whose Korean spelling was decided by the government committee on foreign names (외래어 심의회). Foreign names keep their own order in Korean — given name first, then surname.

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